On the night of the 20th of May 2012 an earthquake shook the middle-northern part of Italy, razing hundreds ancient buildings and transforming many inner cities in abandoned ruins. The competition “Post Quake Visions”  aims to rethink and redesign the quake-inflicted gaps left inside ancient urban tissues.

Our proposal, CLT Box Chest,  attempts to create a sensible dialogue with the remaining architecture of Crevalcore. It is a reaction to the city’s self reflection of character. The design relies on contrast as an opportunity. Natural wood planks wrap around the existing damaged buildings to create tribute spaces, galleries of remains. Ruins as art, abandonment as the main attraction, a celebration of a tragic past. The footprints of masonry reveal monolithic memories of its former glory.

Each enclosure reveals a different experience but they remain externally homogenous and mysterious, paying respect to the delicate remains they enclose. The intervention rises from the landscape with the evocative pieces gently dissolving, opening an opportunity for a new narrative between the dense memories of Crevalcore’s history and the faith for a stronger and brighter future.