The winning proposal presented by Vázquez Consuegra has as its main objective the enhancement of the two surviving historical buildings that belonged to the convent complex of San Francisco, the old Church and the Panfili Stairs (Pio Panfili, architect and painter of the 18th century). To achieve this, the demolition of the buildings built in the 1950s attached to the church and the creation of a new public space, interposed between the two existing buildings, is proposed.
This ambitious proposal for spaces contemplates significantly reducing the new volumetry foreseen in the program, through the decision to locate the least representative and public part within a functional basement, in the existing historical plinth – the residual part of the city walls – under the level of the Convent square. In this way, a double objective is achieved: on the one hand, the public, protocol and cultural functions are concentrated around the monumental staircase of the Panfili, and on the other hand, a large panoramic terrace is now proposed, with a 360º view of the splendid landscape. surrounding area, being located at the highest point of Montegiorgio, where the convent of San Francisco once stood.
Rendering. New town hall of Montegiorgio, Italy by Vázquez Consuegra.
The historic staircase - what was once "the Scala nuova" of the convent - becomes the neuralgic element of the new above-ground construction, the spine around which public uses and functions are organized, precisely because of its distributive and representative character. Surrounding it are located, on the one hand, the large Council Chamber (with its annexes), equipped with a large skylight with access from the intermediate level of the staircase and, on the other, an exhibition space on two levels, of dimensions different characteristics compared to those of the Hall, conceived as an antiquarium/museum for the exhibition of works of art, furniture and architectural fragments that have survived to this day, which belonged to the convent of San Francisco.
This ambitious proposal for spaces contemplates significantly reducing the new volumetry foreseen in the program, through the decision to locate the least representative and public part within a functional basement, in the existing historical plinth – the residual part of the city walls – under the level of the Convent square. In this way, a double objective is achieved: on the one hand, the public, protocol and cultural functions are concentrated around the monumental staircase of the Panfili, and on the other hand, a large panoramic terrace is now proposed, with a 360º view of the splendid landscape. surrounding area, being located at the highest point of Montegiorgio, where the convent of San Francisco once stood.
Rendering. New town hall of Montegiorgio, Italy by Vázquez Consuegra.
The historic staircase - what was once "the Scala nuova" of the convent - becomes the neuralgic element of the new above-ground construction, the spine around which public uses and functions are organized, precisely because of its distributive and representative character. Surrounding it are located, on the one hand, the large Council Chamber (with its annexes), equipped with a large skylight with access from the intermediate level of the staircase and, on the other, an exhibition space on two levels, of dimensions different characteristics compared to those of the Hall, conceived as an antiquarium/museum for the exhibition of works of art, furniture and architectural fragments that have survived to this day, which belonged to the convent of San Francisco.
