PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
San Giovanni, a historical witness, has been seen thousands of true believers following the path via Via Francigena to pursue their very own faith. However, such a great carrier of history has gradually abandoned after years of glory. This architecture has been left in ruins but still plays an important role in the history and history making. It is such a monument that contains people’s faith, memory and history. Therefore, the aim of the design is to redefine the heritage as a start point of a rebirth of the new one. Obviously, in order to bring this architecture back to life, new meanings and functions has to be given. Hence, it is transformed from single-functional church into a pilgrim centre that services for more purposes. The design focused at the history of this site - from culture, religion, architecture to landscape.
The new project is inspired by the shape of shell, which is the symbol of the pligrims. The ruin church is the core of the new clusters and other functional spaces are placed surround it. By learning the history of this small town, as well as the sacred geography, we define two major axis through our site. One is connecting the town and lake with stone and water, through history to future. The other one is from the ruin church to the pray room, from God to heart.
The whole building is focusing on the “road” and try to illustrate it with the reconstruction process.
