NATIONAL IDEAS COMPETITION                                                 3rd Prize

the project for the new library – media centre of santorso stems from the desire to suggest both an innovative scheme for the spaces of the library – media centre and also a new relationship between the existing building and the city.

the building is then interpreted as potential catalyst of flows and routes that considers the existing different entrance levels not as an obstacle to the creation of a cultural centre but as potential distinctive features of the building and of its role in the city.

such approach collides with and idea of preservation of the building that limits it to its internal functioning by enclosing it in a shrine, but rather places it into the city circuit as attracting pole, place of meeting and cultural learning, a prominent historic architecture opening itself to the other cities, the artistic, turistic and naturalistic itineraries.

new urban connections capable of enhancing the building’s potential permeability are therefore designed.

the media library is thus conceived as an urban interface, a place of cultural, civic, artistic and social exchange, a condenser of public energies capable of attracting citizens to the cultural heart and relating its media identity to the urban context. the historic building is by location, size and architecture a monument as an ordering and founding element of Santorso.