TORRE RINALDA | 2023 | ITA Lecce | +Felix Gehrke
The coastal towers of the former shelters on the southern Italian coast are relics of a time long gone. The tower in Torre Rinalda is one of these contemporary witnesses, resting like a rock in the surf of the Adriatic Sea, against the never-still pulsating coastline. The force of the water and wind and the passage of time have left their mark on the impressive monolith and so the body seems to be broken open and parts of its spatial structure are exposed.
This is where our design comes in, growing out of the interior of the tower as a sculpture and placing itself on its top as a new headpiece. The design is situated in the tension between autonomy and connection to the existing structure. Dealing with the existing building in a dignified manner, the design is placed on the ground floor with minimal intervention. From here, the visitor reaches the former circumferential
access zone via a staircase. This is reactivated and leads the visitor to the first floor. This space is conceived as an exhibition area and mediates between the architectural structures of the historic tower and the new building. Both have a direct influence on the atmosphere of the space, compliment it and create exciting situations in mutual reference.
A staircase on the demolition edge of the tower, which continues the idea of the original access layer, stages the visitor‘s path around the rooms and leads him to the uppermost part of the building. The following room forms the conclusion of the design and reveals to the visitor an unimagined far-reaching view over the landscape and the sea to the horizon. A place of contemplation that can also be used as a public event space, it retains its former character as a vantage point. The individual rooms open up more and more to the surroundings in a dramaturgically constructive way, whereby the design unites a wide variety of atmospheres. As a reminiscence of its history, the design leaves the existing structure of the tower untouched, breathes new life into it and builds on it. In doing so, the design stages the history of the tower and makes all its traces visible. As a dynamic response to this heavy historical monument, the design creates a new independent identity as an emblem of the Lecce region as a refined architecture.
