The way in which the northern Italian city of Rovereto has grown has favoured its secondary facade as the main access to the building. This hierarchical reversal of the city’s urban layout has influenced the building to such an extent that the whole way it functions internally has been thrown into question.
In order to resolve this functional imbalance, a series of actions are carried out, such as the implementation of a new main access and reception space in the existing building’s interior courtyard garden. The project’s goal is to reorganize the entire building completely through a minimum of intervention.
The operation consists of superimposing a stone porch onto the facade in order to emphasize the access to the hall and the staircase system. The new stone entryway is inserted in between the columns of the existing access in order to dignify the old building’s facade, turn around the way the building is understood and equate the main and secondary facades. The new reception pavilion is inserted with precision into the building’s courtyard, completing the void and following the same rhythm as that established by the existing structure. Notions of continuity and dialogue with the pre-existing elements are the guidelines for this intervention, for both the courtyard and the entryway and in the refurbishment and reorganization of the existing building.

International competition.