At the heart of Cascina Grande, the oldest agricultural structure in the village, is the barn, which overlooks the castle and constitutes its vital complement.
The recovery and enhancement project has made its connection to the castle and the countryside even stronger, creating new perspectives on the interior space and surroundings.
The barn is a simple, essential construction with its own harmony, proportion, and architectural character, but at the same time, it is a building full of suggestions, atmospheres, and emotions linked to its primitive agricultural destination, the land, and work.
The path created inside it opens up perspective gaps that allow you to perceive the volume in its entirety, leading the guest to move, search, and explore with the gaze with ever-changing visual cones, while maintaining that feeling of calm and tranquility, that “primordial” atmosphere that you breathe upon entering.
The voice of the water in the moat, the voice of the animals in the distance, the mists, the summer lights, the seasons, and the peasant objects become the protagonists.
The volumes containing the rooms are inserted into the barn’s architecture, “boxes” leaning inside the envelope, new, neutral elements with a precise rhythm and vibrations of light and colors, whose contrast with the original building contributes to bringing out its spirit and soul.
The presence of common areas accessible to guests allows, with appropriate spatial, technological (e.g. projections), and exhibition solutions, to carry out cultural, naturalistic-environmental, educational, and dissemination activities on rural civilization and local tradition.
Project: Arch. Clara Bertolotti