Arquitectura para la experiencia memorial: evocando el pasado y construyendo el futuro

Abstract

This project is developed in relation to what happened on April 6, 2009 in the city of L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region in Italy, where an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the seismological moment magnitude scale, caused enormous damage to the city; leaving 309 dead, more than 1,500 injured, and some 55,000 people who lost their homes due to the destruction of thousands of buildings. 14 years after the event, the city is still rebuilding. One of the buildings that collapsed due to the earthquake was the Casa dello Studente, a university student residence located in the southern sector of the old town, leaving several students injured and dead. The objective of this work is to achieve an architectural project implemented in the lot previously occupied by the Casa dello Studente, with the character of a landmark and with University Library and Memorial programs for those who died during the earthquake, which serves the Aquilana society to remember and reflect on the earthquake and its consequences (in the memorial), but also proposing a university library space understood as a place to project and generate hope in a better future for this society, renewing the forces to re-emerge. A recognizable building in the sector, which leaves a mark on its users, so spatial qualities, phenomenology and perception were studied and applied that give the building the ability to suggest and generate emotion in them. The building in the long term will strengthen the identity of L'Aquila, the requalification of the urban void in question will contribute to the collective memory of society, induce reflection, give hope and serve as a legacy to future generations, as well as renew the forces necessary to complete the reconstruction of the city. “We experience layers of signs and traces of life, and that materialized time gives us confidence in the future” (Pallasmaa, 2016, p. 118.).