The extension of a Museum in South Tyrol

In the green Isarco Valley near Bressanone (Bolzano), the Novacella Abbey, founded in 1142, is one of the most significant architectural landmarks in South Tyrol. ModusArchitects' project creates a new entrance hall in the Abbey, brings together the existing secondary structures into a single pathway system and connects them to the main bodies through an unexpected connection: a bridge covered in blackened copper, the only element that reveals the redevelopment of the museum from the outside.

"Our extension helps visitors to be oriented in the spaces of the Abbey and inserts itself onto its stratified history, proposing new paradigms and new vocabularies thanks to an architectural language that respects the past but is open to new interpretations of the future," says Matteo Scagnol, co-founder with Sandy Attia of the Bressanone-based architecture firm MoDusArchitects. The rewriting of the interior spaces starts with discreet incursions: from the finishing of vertical and horizontal surfaces - exposed bushhammered concrete walls, rough plaster and spatulate concrete floors - to the large windows that are opened up, to the essential chestnut wood furnishings and delicate copper details.

The measured use of this palette of elements is complemented by an exceptional element: Paul Renner's artistic intervention. The artist wraps the metal frame of the lift tower with a natural texture just where visitors descend from the upper level of the cloister towards the entrance. Through the use of romantic and imaginative decorations Renner achieves a pleasant friction between the nudity of the interior and the botanical heritage of the Abbey. Thanks to the soft tones, the natural materials and the grace of the details, the architecture creates a poetic balance that restores its sense of peacefulness, a peculiarity of the place.