Project- Auditorium del Parco, L’Aquila, Italy
Architect- Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Atelier Traldi, Milan
USP- Three inter-connected wooden cubes that seem haphazardly placed with the central, biggest cube, seems to be tilting forward.
The abstract looking cubes have 16 sides, the outer sides being clad in Larch tiles (25x4 cm) that are unequal & protected with special treatments. The cubes’ sides feature a series of ‘accidents' that add variety to their wooden surfaces' homogeneity and geometry. The ‘accidents' include the staircase spaces contained in glazed volumes superimposed on the wooden surfaces, the blood-red surfaces corresponding to the vertical or horizontal connecting spaces, the fire escape attached to the facades where necessary and the airconditioning ducts, which, in the back wall of the foyer, emerge from the façade, treated with a cement finish here. The building is broken up into three separate but interconnected volumes: the central volume, which contains the actual auditorium, and the two service volumes: the public service areas, which contain the foyer, located on the town side, and the performers' service areas, which contain the dressing rooms, located on the castle side.