The team of RE-USE.EU test run of our educational module in Napoli, Italy. The lecture and following workshops have been organized in collaboration with Archintorno, a local bureau of architects dedicated to the city’s regeneration.

The team of RE-USE.EU, has managed the program and designed the communication regarding the three stages of the initiative called RIUSO e AUTOCOSTRUZIONE.

Lead by architects Andrea Abita and Clara Bernardo, the activities took place in the fantastic location called ‘Le Scalze,’ the vacant church of S.Giuseppe at Pontecorvo. After staying vacant for many years, the building was damaged during an earthquake and became headquarter of associations devolved to citizens’ initiatives.

Archintorno has been focusing on regenerating the spaces according to the needs of the local community. A beautiful example is the rehearsal room, which was realized with a site specif acoustic study using only upcycled materials.

Above: the rehearsal room designed and built by Andrea Abita in collaboration with Archintorno.

RE-USE.EU & ]Archintorno[

The lecture and workshops have been divided into different modules, starting from the lecture’s theoretical approach in June, stretching until September with the practical workshops.
The workshop aimed to upgrade Archintorno’s headquarters’ space, a space at the upper floor of the church’s complex, with new interiors realized with locally harvested materials. The challenge consisted of creating foldable or quickly-assemblable tables and seats to support the activities within Archintorno’s limited space.

Above: the table ‘Tavolo448’ is a first example of the design approach realized by architect Andrea Abita in collaboration with Archintorno.

THE SEMINAR

Introduced by Andrea Abita, Archintorno, the seminar approached the theme of reuse in architecture and design divided into three modules:

 .Inspirational session led by Denis Guzzo, which introduced creative reuse across history and cultures, showing an overview of documented projects and best practices.

.Intervention by Antonio Cerbone, president of the Regional Bound of Architects.

.Intervention by Paola Manfredi, RE MIDA, Napoli. 

.Regulatory session by Ph.D. Paola Altamura explained recent developments in regulations regarding reuse in architecture with several comparisons between European directives and Italian rules.

.Introduction to material harvest by Elisa Saturno, introducing the concept of adaptive design and the approach to geo-tagged material harvest platforms.

Above: an overview of the day of the seminar at ‘Le Scalze’, Napoli.

THE WORKSHOP

The following weeks have been characterized by intensive group research, devolved to harvest the potential source of materials to be further implemented in design and prototyping.

Above: lead by architect Andrea Abita and Elisa Saturno, a new catalog has been compiled, dividing different elemets and materials by characteristics and possible applications.

Also thanks to a call for materials across social media platforms some resources were found quickly.