In_Bo (Jul 2017)

Transforming the use, transforming the sense

  • Gianluca Burgio

DOI
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2036-1602/6471
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 10
pp. 101 – 114

Abstract

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Transforming a sacred building is not a simple task. The complexity of the interventions of re-functionalization that aim to change of use of places of worship is generated by two orders of questions which are closely related. On the one hand, we are in the presence of buildings, almost always monumental, that possess a structure and architectural features that characterize them as singular buildings; on the other hand, they are designed so that their own architectural singularity was a symbolic expression: the towering heights, the distinctive use of light etc., respond to a logic that goes beyond the merely functional meaning of space. It is therefore possible to think a change of use for the places of worship? Which design instruments must be used in order to not overturn completely the space that the time and culture of a society have handed down?

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