Stark monochromatic inside of Saint Rocco church brings stone ruins into focus

Architects Luigi Valente and Mauro Di Bona have renovated the previous church of Saint Rocco in southern Italy right into a theatre with a black and white inside.

Positioned within the small commune of Rotello close to Campobasso, the historic landmark has been restored right into a everlasting efficiency venue and multi-purpose corridor.

Fragments of the stone ground stand out towards the white-washed theatre area, hidden throughout the current exterior masonry partitions.

The decorative inside, together with the cornice, pilasters and arched niches had been beforehand painted white however confirmed uneven damaged paintwork close to the ceiling.

The church’s beige pure stone flooring was changed with a white ground to match the partitions, the place the bulk was repainted to create a strong uniform color.

Organized within the centre of the auditorium are 90 small black armchairs going through the stage, which shall be used for for theatre performances and conferences.

In entrance of the seating, the architects retained a remnant of the pure stone flooring laid in an irregular semi-circular formation.

“Details about the primary church could be very fragmented,” Valente advised Dezeen. “Based round 1300, solely the previous ground was seen on the time of renovation.”

The continual white color of the general inside breaks into the road of the stone arc, designed as a visible nod to the renovation means of Saint Rocco’s church.

A sequence of earlier renovation tasks to the constructing had brought about the previous church to change into unused. The unique timber ceiling had been demolished with a false ceiling put in.

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Valente and Di Bona eliminated this and reconstructed a timber ceiling utilizing the unique wood beams, which may now be seen spanning the corridor at common intervals.

The architects designed changes to the stage, entrance factors and the inner flooring to replace them in keeping with trendy security rules.

As well as, the architects built-in new energy-efficient methods. LED gear replaces the present lighting and radiant heating gives decreased emissions for the theatre’s underfloor heating.

New accessible rest room amenities have been put in behind the rows of seating close to the doorway.

A white staircase winds up the nook of the corridor resulting in a mezzanine ground, with two stepped rows of further seating out there.

Following an epidemic in Rotello within the 1600s, the church was named after the patron saint Rocco, protector towards the plague.

The neighborhood started to make use of the construction to host theatrical performances from the 1950s. Because the renovation permits for the church to proceed internet hosting performances, the architects aimed to amplify the standing of the constructing within the city which has an “absence of constructions”.

Pure stone fragments complemented with easy surfaces may be seen in a home in Menorca by Nomo Studio which references its vernacular materiality, while artist Matthew Simmonds carved historic architectural options into miniature marble sculptures.