My final project this year was to design a Heritage Training and Interpretation Centre, in Buddusò, Sardinia. The main concept being, a space for granite workers to teach both locals, students and tourists the fundamentals of mining and sculpting granite. As an adaptive reuse project, our site contains a pre-existing, partially ruined courtyard house, a partially ruined mill, and an active bar. One main site constraint is working around these pre-existing and modern parts. To resolve this in a way that both creates a cohesive design, and also a visual that can be historically understood as new and old, I decided to tell this through the material choice, but also through depth. Having the modern elements, formed of Cor-ten steel cladding, set-back behind the existing thick granite walls. This site also comes with another substantial constraint, the level changes, with a large 1.7m drop down to a grass field in its centre. The best solution to tackle this was to dig down and create a larger drop in which I can place my auditorium. Meaning I can limit the height of my building to two storeys, which better fits with the surrounding architecture. However, it also allows me to have this central area of site on street level, forming the key component of my design, the public square extension, creating a link through the centre pulling people into the buildings, whilst also having continuity with the surrounding context. With accommodation, rentable workshops and a classroom in the mill, and a café, an auditorium and Interpretation spaces in the western building, the centre offers the perfect space to both learn the story behind mining the granite, and also learn the fundamentals of sculpting.
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