Final Workshop Antico e Nuovo
Master's Degree in Architectural Design and History - Politecnico di Milano - 2020
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The Final Workshop "Antico e Nuovo" is the final studio of the Master's Degree in Architectural Design and History. Led by Prof. Massimo Ferrari with the collaboration of visiting professors Andrew Berman and Cristián Undurraga, the Final Workshop is an innovative course which combines components of Architectural Design, Museography, Conservation and Structural Design. The course proposes an examination of the fundamental question of the relationship between Old and New in architecture through the design of a Music Box in the Basilica di Santa Barbara, in Mantua’s Ducal Palace.
Our project proposes a defined response to this question, rooted in the conception of modern architecture as a mediator between the contemporary person and the historical context. The architecture becomes a friendly mediator between the Basilica di Santa Barbara and the visitor, encouraging a memorable, personal relationship with the architecture. In this sense, the intervention is museum-like in its intent, considering the historical architecture of the Ducal Palace as an object of observation in itself. This mediating role between old and new is not confined to the realms of architecture. Through the design of a decidedly contemporary music pavilion in the precinct of the Ducal Palace, the project continues the centuries-long tradition of the palace of the Gonzaga as a centre for musical innovation. The box invites the audience to re-examine their conception of classical music by creating a modern, intimate relationship between audience and performers, bridging the gap between the immense wealth of classical and chamber music in the history of the palace and the reality of contemporary music performance. The architecture is in itself analogous and referential, full of interpretations and intentions. In its references to religious architecture, the Music Box can become a profane altar to music; in its complexity, massiveness and endless possibilities, it is a modern organ, a music machine which hovers over the faithful; its location in the first crossing references an earlier plan for Santa Barbara, evoking the magic of centrally planned churches. The Music Box is ambiguous and defined, massive and delicate, human and divine; it is in this balance of contradictions that the architecture creates the space for an emotional relationship with the visitor and a new appreciation of the old and the new. |