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The project for the new parish centre and house in Reggiolo is the result of a competition held by the Bishop's diocese of Reggio Emilia for the reconstruction of the premises that were destroyed during the 2012 earthquake. The project is based on the idea of community that finds its core values in the open spaces and meeting places, and the new construction rebuilds the urban fabric fragmented by the earthquake.
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After the earthquake of 2012, the intervention represented an opportunity to redefine the urban organisation of the entire area through the project of a sequence of courtyards connecting Via Matteotti to Via Mameli, and generating new spatial relations between the church of San Rocco, the historical building of the parish centre, and the sports and leisure facilities. The new volume lies on the site formerly occupied by the partially demolished existing buildings, and is only two storeys high, being as compact as possible and respecting the heights of the context.
The architectural language is essential, the chromatic and material choices are based on the idea of coherence between the interior and the outdoor spaces and the natural elements. The materials used are primarily corten, wood and white plaster. The project has been awarded by The Plan Award 2017 in the category “Public Space (Future)” and was mentioned in the InArch Award 2023. The building achieved a “Class A” energy performance.
Post-emergency reconstruction is indeed a solution to an urgent need, but at the same time it is necessary to define regeneration tools able to interpret the social and functional needs of the community, left so fragile after the loss of its references. The functional programme combines the activities of the oratory and those of the parish house in a single building. The activities with a public and collective character are organised on the ground floor and overlook the inner courtyards so as to favour permeability and the circulation of external users, while the activities related to the pastoral ministry and residence are organised on the first floor. Essential in its formal simplicity, the Reggiolo complex evokes typical features of the religious heritage, as elements of strong symbolic value in Catholic iconography and as familiar meeting places for the community. The space of the parish centre is organised around a first courtyard, more intimate and reserved, defined by the new oratory and the Church of St. Rocco, emphasised by the architects by exposing the side façade while maintaining, through the sacristy, a connection with the new extension. A second courtyard, defined by the oratory building, overlooks the functions of the ground floor: an ideal space for events or outdoor gatherings, in line with the requests emerged from the participatory design.
The new parish centre project originates from the need to return the destroyed parish spaces to the city of Reggiolo, and becomes an opportunity to redefine the entire urban organisation of the area. The project is focused on an idea of community that finds its roots in open spaces and meeting places, around a building with a strong identity and capable of mending the connective tissue between the Church, the rooms, the oratory and the various other collective spaces.
MAB arquitectura is an architectural firm founded in 2004 by Floriana Marotta and Massimo Basile, based in Milan since 2014. The practice has developed a multidisciplinary approach to integrated design between urban planning, architecture and landscape. MAB develops urban masterplans, public space design, redevelopment proposals for brownfield regeneration. At the architectural scale it works on residential and public. Among the most relevant works: the Housing complex and public park in Via Gallarate (Milan), the Patronage Laïque-Cultural Centre and temporary housing (Paris), the conversion of the Capofaro Lighthouse on Salina Island into a 5* Hotel, the urban regeneration project REDO in via Merezzate and via Moneta in Milan. Work in progress in Milan includes the new R8 Inspire-UpTown lot in Cascina Merlata, the redevelopment of the Rogoredo railway yard and the urban regeneration of the former Taliedo warehouse, the transformation of a brown-field in Settimo Milanese.
