Reuse the Lake Chapel — San Giovanni , Val di Lago / Italien

The Lake Chapel of San Giovanni in Val di Lago is a small octagonal church, built in the middle of the sixteenth century on the shores of Bolsena lake, on the ruins of an ancient medieval church, along the Via Francigena.

The Via Francigena is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and the to Apulia, in southern Italy, where there was the embarkation for the Holy Land. Nowadays many pilgrims still follow this route on foot, on horseback, or by bicycle, as the Via Francigena has been designated Major Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.

One of the stages of Via Francigena goes from the town of Acquapendente to the town of Bolsena, passing through San Lorenzo Nuovo. The main path crosses the city center, while an alternative path leads to the Church of San Giovanni in Val di Lago and then to the lake’s shores.

Participants of this competition are asked to reuse this space as a Pilgrim Center.

Is it possible to bring life back inside a late Reinassance church along the Via Francigena path?

The answer to this question is in the hands of the designers who will participate in this competition.

The submitted projects will be displayed on a local exhibition in the Municipality Hall of San Lorenzo Nuovo. The winning proposals and the mentions will be published by ArchDaily, other webzines, and on a ISBN book published by Reuseitaly.

- The participants must conceive the area as a pilgrims accommodation and cultural event center;
- The participants must design a roof for the church, free in terms of shape and materials;
- The church is still consecrated and its interior space must be used only for religious functions and classical music concerts;
- The participants must design accommodations for pilgrims, suitable to host 10 people (individual or collective accommodations, up to the participants);
- The accommodations must include a kitchen, a common dining hall and restrooms;
- The participant must design an external auditorium space, adapt for events such as lectures, meetings, concerts, films;
- The external auditorium must include restrooms for the audience.

Jury
Federico Biancullo - The Big Picture; Bonell + Doriga; Vincenzo Latina; Carles Enrich; Studio WOK; Associates Architects; Diego Hernandez - ArchDaily; Federica Sofia Zambeletti - KooZA/rch; Giovanni Logiudice - Graphisoft Italia

Schedule
– 18 October: Opening of the Early Registration
– 23 November: Opening of the Regular Registration
– 24 December: Opening of the Late Registration
– 11 February: Submission deadline
– 10 March: Results
– Mid April: Exhibition of the projects

All deadlines are meant to be at 23.59 (GMT +1; Rome) of the prescribed day.

All the documents provided to the participants can be found at www.reuseitaly.com. It is composed by: photographic report, CAD drawings and 3D model, textual reports and a BIM model provided by Graphisoft Archicad.

Jury members will assign 3 awards, 10 honorable mentions and an undefined number of special mentions for innovative proposals, which will all be exposed during the competition exhibition.
First Prize: 2500 EUR
Second Prize: 1000 EUR
Third Prize: 500 EUR

www.reuseitaly.com/competitions/reuse-the-lake-chapel