FROM THE ABSEBCE OF MATTER TO THE METAPHYSICAL RUIN

Matter is essential to architecture, be it palpable or not. Our traditional understanding of what a building is, and its purposes, is often an imposed limit that doesn’t allow us to fully enjoy and understand the beauty of a building’s life cycle, or the conversations that may spring from discussing any of its stages (concept, birth, life, and death).

Just like many things in life, whenever the given need for the functionality of an object ceases to exist, its usage consequently declines to 0, and it loses its original purpose.

At this stage, it may be possible to re-adapt it so that it may serve another function. This restructuring may be a simple aesthetical makeover, or maybe even a conceptual one, if its physical structure can be reoriented to a different purpose. This would be the case of, for example, changing a shop from a caffé to a night club. Or a large church into a museum.

This option, named Adaptive Reuse, “entails converting buildings sustainably by modifying their function based on the requirements of new or existing users”¹.
Simply put: ‘Much of the old outer shell, different insides’.

The following is a very good example of a sensible compromise between the restoration of an abandoned church and adaptation to a new purpose:

A 13th century church in Kilkenny, Ireland, converted into a museum for medieval artefacts; This project was nominated for the Mies van Der Rohe award in 2019

Adapting heritage is today one of the most sought after methods of preserving a monument’s historic pedigree. It will allow you to adapt it to modern needs and maintain its historical importance, often in situations in which it’s surrounded by the urban fabric with which it ‘grew’, along decades or even centuries.

There are cases, however, in which it isn’t possible to salvage a given edification, without reframing it into something that may not reflect the original concept.

Or perhaps it’s isolated and far away from any population center. Once readapted to a new function, there’d still not be any public, and it’d end up abandoned once again.

Old West American ghost towns are a perfect example of this loss of necessity and consequent abandonment

When any of these is the case, the destiny of that building is certain. Ruin.

Be it decades or centuries. Time will take its toll and dictate its degradation to a point where it may even be unrecognisable.

Not only will it lose its function, but maybe even our memory of it disappears.

This is where the concept of Absent Matter proves its value.

Absent Matter as explained by the sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi, is the “representation of a mental projection, filter and shape through which places, instants and beings are narrated”².

The structures created by the Italian artist may not necessarily be a homage to something that was there at one time.

Many of his works are simply passive tools, that give its users (observers) free-flowing liberty to interpret the surroundings through their inherent language of transparency.

When applied to architecture, the absence of matter may take on 2 forms. Conceptual or that of a memory. This rethinking of what a ruin can be, objectively materialized into our field of vision through metallic wiring, allows for freedom of interpretation to take place when contemplating that which seems to be, but perhaps never was or is no more.

The adding of a new step in the life cycle of a construction, as envisioned by Tresoldi

Amongst the various projects to be admired, I bring you two that fit perfectly into this distinction.

Opera (2020)

This permanent installation consists of a series of tall wire-mesh columns, in classic Greek architectural style, raised in the Falcomatà seafront in Calabria, southern Italy.

This region, has a profound and long-lived history and owes much of its heritage to the ancient Greek collonies of Magna Grecia, of which Rhegion, today Reggio, is one of its most recognisable descendants.

Adding up to a total of 46, the tallest of which is 8 meters tall, they sit facing the marvellous Straight of Messina, overlooking Sicily. The rational tone of these objects contrasts beautifully with the organic language of the paths that flow between them. The two become visual melodies that work together to grace the visitor with a stimulating celebration of the space and its history.

Basilica di Siponto (2016)

Secondly, and one of his Magnum Opus, we have the ghostly paleochristian Basilica of Siponto, located in the archaeological park of Siponto in Puglia, also southern Italy.

Part of an archaelogical intervention to restore the remains of an early christian basilica, the project was promoted by the local Ministry of Cultural Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) and the Archaeological Superintendency of Apulia.

Kept incomplete, and raised upon the remains of the original structure, it retains its museological purpose of remembrance and education of what was once there. It comes as a reinterpretation of the classical understanding of restoration, going further than consolidating and preservating, to beautifully marry archaeology and contemporary art.

Certainly an innovative way to act on what regards the preservation of ruins, not only did if fulfil that purpose, but today it’s a major touristic attraction in the region. It crystallizes memory without limiting interpretation. Educates and eternalizes heritage without compromising its surroundings or their enjoyment by whoever visits the space.

SOURCES:

Websites

² CONCEPT. (2018). Edoardo Tresoldi. https://www.edoardotresoldi.com/concept/

Edoardo Tresoldi – Biografia. (n.d.). Fondazione Dino Zoli. http://fondazionedinozoli.com/progettirealizzati/edoardo-tresoldi-biografia/

Giorgi, D. E. (2017, May 15). Edoardo Tresoldi, l’uomo che ha stregato il mondo (e Forbes) con le sue cattedrali metalliche. La Repubblica. https://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2017/05/15/news/edoardo_tresoldi-162340465/

Griffiths, A. (2019, December 27). The most innovative adaptive reuse projects of 2019. The Spaces. https://thespaces.com/the-most-innovative-adaptive-reuse-projects-of-2019/

Livermore, S. (2018, August 15). The Coolest Ghost Towns In America. House Beautiful. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/g22094885/ghost-towns-in-america/

Moschen, G. (2020). Architectural presence using absent matter. Eclectic Trends. https://www.eclectictrends.com/architectural-presence-using-absent-matter/

Rogers, S. A. (2018, September 24). Don’t Wreck the Ruins: Aging Structures Adapted with Style and Sensitivity. WebUrbanist. https://weburbanist.com/2018/09/24/dont-wreck-the-ruins-aging-structures-adapted-with-style-and-sensitivity/

The power and possibility of adaptive reuse. (2019). Building Design + Construction. https://www.bdcnetwork.com/blog/power-and-possibility-adaptive-reuse

Books and Articles

¹ The Attractiveness of Adaptive Heritage Reuse: A Theoretical Framework. (2020). Sustainability, 12(6), 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062372