Moreno Pivetti
Restoration and reuse of the “Casazza” court
MORENO PIVETTI ARCHITECTURE
Renew by evoking memory
Restoration and reuse of the “Casazza” court
The nature evoked for a window opening
After having traveled a large stretch of that Emilian coutryside, unmistakable in its uniform expanse and measured at the most by scattered rows of poplars, upon arriving here one suddenly has the impression of being where time has stopped, forcibly kidnapped by that ‘mythical past’ narrated by Bernardo Bertolucci in “Novecento”.
The building was the production section of an ancient agricultural court, called
“Corte Casazza”, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. The project involved the complete recovery of the building, with minimal and measured interventions on the external envelope. The restoration of the walls was carried out with the aim of highlighting the successive stratifications that shaped them, carrying out selective excavations and what Carlo Scarpa called “creative demolitions”.
The new insertions, chromatically neutral, exhibit the silent commentary on the ancient envelope that welcomes them.
The intervention also included the reconstruction of the most recent module facing north; the volumetric integration respects the alignments of the existing building, harmonizing its reintegration. A linear skylight on the roof declares the separation between the two buildings, returning inside the unitary perception of the ancient vestments, heated and shaped by the zenith light.
Disegni
Entering the farmhouse, one relives the memory of the ancient stable recovered to the original wall faces and measured by columns rebuilt with an iron core. In the upper part, Nature dominates. Where once there was the barn, an open, flexible space now extends, marked by the trajectories of natural light draw by the brick diaphragms (“jealousies”).
The visual-illuministic narrative projects and weaves multiform plots on walls and floors, becoming the spatial stamp of the recovered barn. The envelope-diaphragm transfigures one of the primary elements of nature – Light – into the empathy of space, a place in which to cultivate – as Sir Brewster well knew – the pleasantness of vision.
Moreno Pivetti, Architetto
