Cremona – United Nations Lecture hall – This is the most likely destination – but also a public library until gym With a climbing wall in the middle, and space to contemplate the absolute: these are some of the projects they would like to define Possible future of the Basilica of San Marcellino, drawn up by students of the Polytechnic, from all over the world. There are those who arrived from China and did not even know about the existence of Cremona and had to search for it on the map. Now students coming from Russia, Italy, Serbia, China, USA, Greece, Armenia, Poland, Belgium and France, From the Architectural Restoration Laboratory to a master’s degree in architecturethe built environment and interiors of Politecnico di Milano explains Angelo Giuseppe Landi: “They know not only the city, but its demographic composition, the spaces used for leisure and culture and those that can be used to give new life to the city” with whom Fausta Fiorillo He asked the students to redesign the Basilica of San Marcelino.

San Marcelino Church

Indeed, what has been constituted as an academic exercise with its own tangible value, the Archdiocese of Sant’Agata, Sant’Agostino and Sant’Ilario asked for collaboration with the Polytechnic to impose a new public function for the Church in Via Ponchielli.

«The Polytechnic Laboratory concluded surveys and gave free ideas, even suggestive ones – he says Don Ervano Maglia from Pastoral Unity – But now we need to find a way to select the appropriate project and work on resources. The most likely destination is to think of an auditorium, at least that is the indication of interest that comes from many quarters and from institutions like the Ponchielli Foundation that use churches for the festival, for example. It’s time to make a decision.”

Professor Landy reviews the projects with the students

Therefore, the idea is to turn it into a hall open to the city and the groups that work there, but in the meantime Prof. Landi with assistant teachers (David Pruneri, Raul Musiat Arellano, Valentina Ceneri) left him Students are free to create and assume new functions for the building, but always in the protection of the church: «The students took a rigorous approach, beginning with scanning the church with innovative 3D laser scanner equipment, and gained the ability to render and scan masonry and photogrammetry of interior and exterior surfaces. Then they developed technical analyzes aimed at describing the materials used and the individual construction techniques of the church »explains Landy Chi He wanted to put his students to the test, while not abandoning the rigor that should characterize a design procedure.

“Among the results of the laboratory, there are jobs intended mostly for a young audience, in an old city and where projects for the university campus are already being carried out – says the Polytechnic professor: so Libraries and study spaces, workshops and workshops for artists, spaces for dance and art performances, gymnasium with climbing wallsAn enormous volume mimicking rock walls, an auditorium, and modular spaces for small performances, auditions, and exhibitions. In one case, we thought of a space with an art installation linked to a liturgical space “open” to different religions ».

All of this is done in a very subtle perspective that Landy is keen to define: «The aim was not to check according to regulations but to develop ideas, proposals, suggestions and sometimes provocations, Meditation on the issue of reusing liturgical spaces ».