The competition demanded for a new intervention on the historical home-museum of Antonio Gramsci, in Ghilarza, Sardinia.
Currently the house (on the right) is preserved as is, hosting the museum, while the building on the left (the former headquarter of the local communist party) is a clutter of disused spaces.
Our intervention focused on this area, in order to expand the spaces supporting the museum and by giving it a new flexibility: an auditorium and a small agora to generate a new dialogue between the old and the new.
The main intervention is the volume of the auditorium, which can be completely open, allowing it to blend with the small agora. A system of steps helps making the whole exterior courtyard a continuous space that can expand and contract according to the museum needs.
A new flexibility for these new times.
The volume of the auditorium is inserted into the preserved part of the building, becoming the generative geometry for both interior and exterior spaces.
A new itinerary
The original home is kept as the fulcrum of the museum experience, where each rooms represents a step in the life of Gramsci.
The new intervention adds all those supporting spaces the museum is currently lacking: an entrance with the tickets office, services, a small auditorium and, on the top floor, two new rooms for temporary exhibitions and audio-visuals.
The new museum journey starts from the new part, moves across the old and finishes back in the new rooms, establishing a constant dialogue between these two complementary parts.
The auditorium is a flexible, multi-use space that can be open, semi-open, or close to accommodate different activities and extend towards the plaza.
The new intervention is all made out of concrete, in order to create a contrast between old and new. This is made explicit in the wall on the alley, with the new concrete wall and the old stone sitting beside one another. A circular opening on the new wall allows people to peek through, and establishes a new relationship between the street and the garden.
The new ticketing area becomes a buffer between the auditorium space, the exterior courtyard and the exhibition.
The volume of the auditorium extending inside defines its entrance and provides a visual continuity between interior and exterior.
