Ricardo Maria Balzarotti
Housing Environment, 32/2020, 2020, pp. 4-11
https://doi.org/10.4467/25438700SM.20.021.12885The starting point of this essay is a multidisciplinary study conducted by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of the Politecnico di Milano regarding the opportunities for the revitalisation of the almost 800 Community Cinemas owned by the Italian Catholic Church. These cinemas represent the local communities and are an important part of the contemporary Italian urban environment. Research shows that cinemas are threatened by how people currently consume audio-visual content, that there is a need to rethink the projection theatres as social gathering spaces open to the twenty-first-century neighbourhood, thanks to some features innate in the Community Cinemas that can be enhanced. Four case studies have been identified that represent the most common (or widest variation of) size and general layout among the 800 existing situations. A general model has been developed through the radical re-shaping of the space in accordance with new urban and social functions and implementing new technologies. By designing these case-study project solutions, it was possible to define that a new model of multipurpose social centre merged with a more traditional projection room is not only possible, but thanks to state-of-the-art technologies could represent a perfect match and an opportunity to make significant changes throughout a community.