Revitalization of the former Benedettine church in Piacenza. Conversion into a music auditorium and multipurpose exhibition space.

The regeneration of degraded spaces is the most concrete expression of sustainability: it conserves building capital, avoids new construction, reduces land consumption and embodied carbon emissions and returns use value to the community. The reuse of the former Benedictine Church is the objective of this thesis. The project focuses on the functional redesign of the building, but at the same time opens up broader scenarios of urban regeneration, with the aim of restoring value to an area currently characterised by neglect, decay and a general state of decay. The project aims to create a unique auditorium, designed to host musical, cultural and performing arts events, in line with the history and spirit of the place. This space also includes an exhibition area, which guides visitors on an immersive journey, highlighting the architectural beauty of the church and narrating its identity. The exhibition hall and auditorium coexist in a single, flexible environment, designed to adapt to the different needs that the city may express over time. This adaptability is not only a design choice, but a thread that runs through the building’s entire history: over time, the church has always changed its function of use, each time responding to the different needs of society. Over the centuries, it has been transformed from a place of worship to a military depot and then to a governmental defence space. Today, with this new project, there is an opportunity to return it to the community as a living, accessible place, rich in memory and ready to welcome new forms of expression, without covering up the signs of time with the intention of keeping alive the memory of the history and periods that have characterised the building’s life.