The Politeama theatre of Sassuolo (MO), Italy, is situated in the old town center and it is currently disused. The building originated as a meeting place, a benchmark for cultural and recreational activities of citizenship and, as such, it needs to be improved with a renovation work.
It’s not so immediate to set a new appropriate use, which could be adaptable to the building features, especially because the project outline must be truly realizable and in agreement with the Cultural Heritage Department. It’s very important that a building like this, placed in the city center, has a meeting function from a social point of view. We set ourselves the target of modeling the theatre and making it a multi-functional space, so that it could supply to several different needs of people, it could change itself depending on different necessities, both during the day and during the year.
We took into account that the required technologies to carry out the renovation should trying to be less invasive as possible.
The layout is not obviously distorted. The main entrance is re-established on the primary façade; the large central hall gets improved. In this new way, the theatre would get different uses, depending on the floor, but related among them.
The Politeama theatre can be again an important element for the city, not only for its story, but also a benchmark for traders working life, for teenagers. The multi-functional building could be usable day and night and it could quickly change its aspect.
A flexible space is more attractive, can live for a longer time and can be lived for many more people.