MANTOVA:
Exhibition space
Forte di Pietole, Mantova, Italy
Mantova: Revitalization of Forte di Pietole - Exhibition Space
Politecnico di Milano - ASA (Advanced School of Architecture)
ASA workshop, Mantova
Supervision: Paolo Citterio
Team: Kristina Azarić, Clara Donati, Matilde Valagussa, Jiali Hu, Sahar Doustar
Today Forte di Pietole represents great heritage of well preserved military material culture, a site of great importance that requires careful thinking and new ideas for the reuse. As many sites in European and Italian cities even this site is defined by undeniable quality of the historical remains. Reactivation of these abandoned areas indeed represent challenges of modern architects. Set of regenerative operations defined as a proposal for Forte di Pietole includes four lines of research: hospitality, exhibition, wellness and nature.
Choosen objects for the intervention are specific because of the dual notion, they represent the same type of the fortification object inside the fotress but their destiny was different. Casamatta on the east side suffered of a big detonation after the WWII and was demaged, the action that followed was covering and leveling the remaining floor since the construction survived. Today the object’s height is 1m less, because of this intervention.
One casamatta is evidence of the detonation, while other is preserved. Addresing their future function – exhibition space approach was to establish a path inside the damaged object, the corridor that will recall the original building, original height so exhibition space is based on the nivelation.
Recovery with careful excavations in order to reach original ground level of the Bastion served as a solution for the entrance, allowing the visitors to experience the real scale, mass of the bastion, its fate and history after the bombing during the World War II. Material used for the construciton is steel, so visitors while walking inside the object create sound that remind of marching soldiers. For the preserved casamatta approach was different, exhibitions space is defined with specific burnished iron floor that is reflecting the arches of the construction and illusion on infinite space is created.
Two bastions are being connected with the return of water, recalling the past, when military defense system of this fortress was changing the nature of the place. Open space conecting two casamattas is being refilled with water as in the past river was touching the walls of the fortress.
