Interaction and interference

DAP Studio, New Elsa Morante civic library

Abstract

What happens when a piece of contemporary architecture is placed alongside an oratory from the beginning of the twentieth century? DAP studio of Milan (Elena Sacco, Paolo Danelli) has shown that the thing is not only possible, but that it can be created in the interactions between the languages of both the here and now and of memory, seamlessly and without damaging the two. Indeed, involving the two architectures in a single game of volumes and recollections, each is made to become the soul of the other. It is all happening at Lonate Ceppino, in the province of Varese, where DAP studio has been involved in a restoration project at the old oratory of San Michele and in the creation of an extension. Between the two, a new volume has been inserted, forming the entrance. Covered in glass, the body of this linking area becomes, with the onset of night, a great lamp which shines the internal light upwards into the emptiness which separates the two volumes. The historical building, now deconsecrated, now holds the local library, Elsa Morante. On the upper floor a wooden-raftered room is a flexible multi-function area for meetings and exhibitions. The extension on the other hand contains the utilities, the storeroom, the public conveniences and the staff bathroom. Furthermore, at the final level, in the corner where the covering becomes transparent, pretty much increasing the external light and projecting the artificial light at night, there is a more private reading area. The two volumes are connected on the first floor by a wooden walkway.