Vincenzo Latina – Entrance pavilion to the excavations of the Artemision of Syracuse

PROJECT: Vincenzo Latina – Entrance pavilion to the excavations of the Artemision of Syracuse

LOCATION: Siracusa

YEAR: 2012

ARCHITECT / FIRM: Vincenzo Latina

BUYER: Municipality of Syracuse, Office for the historical centre

SURFACE: 1.000 sqm

PRICE: € 1.000.000

DESCRIPTION:
The project area, located in the urban fabric, had a small view of "Piazza Minerva": it was characterized by a void, or rather by a gap that interrupted the continuity of the curtain wall and contained inside some remains of walls dangerous, for a long time propped up, of a municipal building demolished in the '60s of the last century, on the other side there is the exceptional presence of the corner column of the peristyle of the temple of Athena, incorporated into the wall system of the cathedral.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The functional program remains the original one.

DESCRIPTION:
The project, through the archaeological excavation, connects with a "buried" area, the basement of the municipal building that houses part of the thousand-year-old testimony of the island of Ortigia. In this there are the remains of the foundations of the Ionic temple, some Sicilian huts from the late Bronze Age and the crypt of the church of S. Sebastianello. The pavilion determines an urban reconstruction that restores the continuity of the fronts of Piazza Minerva. The perimeter cladding of the building made of limestone blocks of Palazzolo Acreide stone, is characterized by a texture and a texture that is not emphatic masonry that promotes the structuring of a wall face and refers to a character of medieval or Catalan type. These are the main features that structure the basic wall composition of many buildings in Ortigia, on which the Baroque was grafted after the earthquake of 1693. The "retable" of the weave and the texture of the covering evoke, in a contemporary key, the Catalan-Chiaramontan wall face of the church of S. Sebastianello. The church was located in the area adjacent to the pavilion and was demolished for the construction of the municipal buildings of Rapisardi. In this regard, in Piazza Minerva we intend to create the front of a "silent" building, which listens to the sound coming from the Doric colonnade of the cathedral and some extraordinary monuments nearby. A single accent consists of a vertical cut in the wall that makes a direct visual and spatial connection between the finds of the Ionic temple and the Doric corner column of the temple of Athena.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The investor is the property owner.

DESCRIPTION:
Municipality of Siracusa

- SURFACE present EXTENSION,

PREVALENT CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The overall dimensions increase moderately with respect to the pre-existing surface.

- VOLUME present NO VARIATION,

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The overall dimensions are equal to the pre-existing volume.

DESCRIPTION:
The materials and the internal lighting of the pavilion are interpreted as a contemporary evocation of an hypogeum, a memory of the Latomie del Paradiso in Syracuse. The pavilion is characterized by twilight and light measured sparingly, which filters through a large "lantern" that becomes a chamber of light on the excavations below, this device accentuates the underground character of the intervention.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: There are no new spaces.

DESCRIPTION:
The joint denotes the detachment of the building from the ground and gives the compact mass of the building, "dressed" in a homogeneous layer of limestone blocks, a sense of levitation. The apparent absence of the foundation generates invisible presences in the building, presences that seem to make the building rise, which like a magnet "responds" to the opposite pole.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The original supporting structure is fully preserved and there are no new structures.

DESCRIPTION:
The structure of the pavilion, of the frame type, does not rest directly on the archaeological site but on elastic bearings and required the creation of a seismic joint around the building.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The materials chosen for the new intervention are similar to the pre-existing ones.

DESCRIPTION:
The interior of the pavilion is characterized by a strong plastic movement, so the entrance hall connecting and accessing the archaeological floor was imagined as an open cell, interpreting the memory of the nàos of the Ionic temple that generates inside the building a "hypetral" space, similar to a work of "excavation" carried out in the mass of the building.

TOTAL CONSERVATION / CONTINUITY: The new intervention is in total mimetic continuity with the existing structures.

DESCRIPTION:
The pavilion is conceived as a "monolith" of hard limestone, generated by the "magnetism" of the underground remains of the Ionic temple and the adjacent Athenaion. The corner column of the Athenaion is only 18.30 metres from the pavilion.