OPUS Atelier (Piervito Pirulli+Maura Pinto)
The approach to an architecture like this one must be based on respecting its memory as a ‘laica basilica’
Piscina Mirabilis is a monumental roman project that doesn’t need any superfetation. The functionalization of this space starts with the recovery of the element that represents its root, the water. The aim is to quietly insert the project, restoring and respecting the original beauty and function of Piscina Mirabilis, both inside and outside the cistern area.
Suddenly, the sensory aspect takes place instead of the form, through the installation of full-height mirrors, between the 10th arches row from the main entry, which splits the exposition area from the supporting space and gives the visitors the impression of witnessing an ‘untouched basilica’, reflecting the space in front of it.
The contemporary art exhibition is entirely visitable by a pattern of paths surrounded by the water, that recover and point out the directional development of the space.
A project created to preserve, not to change or astound.
Author: OPUS Atelier (Piervito Pirulli+Maura Pinto).
Website: www.opusatelier.it
Location: Bacoli, Italy.
Year: 2020
Competition: Re-use the Roman ruin.
Prize: Third prize.