NUMERO 10 - dicembre 2016 Conversioni interne: Marcus van der Meulen Ridisegnare la chiesa parrocchiale per un riuso adattivo Marcus van der Meulen studied Architecture and Interior Architecture at Leuven Catholic University ( St. Lucas Institute for Architecture, Ghent ) and Monument Preservation at the Institute of Conservation & Restoration. He did courses in Architectural History at Cambridge University. As an Interior Architect he has Interior convertions: been active in several reuse designs and projects in the past years. Redesigning the Village Church for Adaptive Reuse Currently Marcus is director at Square, a platform for adaptive reuse and redesign of religious architecture. At present he focusses on the reuse of post-war churches in the urban landscape. As an Interior Historian he researches ecclesiastical interiors with special interest for the medieval and modernist periods, his book Così come sempre più chiese parrocchiali perdono As more and more village churches loose their original Brass Eagle Lecterns in England: 1470-1520 is due next year. la loro funzione originaria di luogo di culto, il riuso function as a house of worship adaptive reuse is adattivo è una strategia sempre più popolare per la an increasingly popular strategy for preservation of conservazione del patrimonio religioso. Trasformare il religious heritage. Transforming the local house of locale luogo di culto per mettere in scena una nuova worship to stage a new scenography implies a redesign scenografia implica una riprogettazione degli interni. of the interior. Three types of ecclesiastical architecture Tre tipi di architettura ecclesiastica sono riscontrabili in rural Groningen, the Netherlands, have been nelle aree rurali di Groningen, i Paesi Bassi, sono stati redesigned in recent years to house a new functionality. ridisegnati negli ultimi anni per ospitare una nuova Architectural interventions by definition change context. funzionalità, con interventi architettonici, attraverso la However it can be a accepted as a valid preservation definizione di un contesto in cambiamento, accettabile strategy. The addition of new layers to the existing come strategia di conservazione valida. L’aggiunta di heritage has resulted in interesting spaces which reveal Parole chiave: Patrimonio religioso; Architettura nuovi strati al patrimonio esistente ha determinato the qualities of these ecclesiastical buildings. ecclesiastica; Chiesa; Riuso adattivo; interessanti spazi che rivelano le qualità di questi edifici Riprogettazione ecclesiastici. Keywords: Religious heritage; Ecclesiastical architecture; Church; Adaptive reuse; Redesign http://in_bo.unibo.it NUMERO 10 - dicembre 2016 Schonen is etwas im wesen lassen The world is urbanizing at high speed region this year, however nothing on Martin Heidegger; Bauen, Denken, Wohnen and the province of Groningen in the the scale of central Italy, not surpassing Netherlands is not an exception. As the 2.0 on the scale of Richter. These dutch The death of Gregor was a relief to the population of the eponymous capital earthquakes are man inflicted and a Samsa Family. His transformation into increases the depopulation of rural result of the extraction of natural gas in a vermin had alienated him from family Groningen continues. Figures of 2014 the area. In recent years the repairs due and society. The relation between Gregor show a decrease in rural municipalities to quake damages has become a new Samsa and the world surrounding him like Delfzijl or De Marne of 20 % since worry. The redundant church of Krewerd, had changed. Adaptation to this new 19904. Unemployment in this province is the Delfzijl municipality was restored9. reality became a struggle for survival highest in the country affecting mostly the Preserving a building without a function finding an end in death. A death the Samsa rural areas5. Several villages have seen the however can be regarded the creation family experienced the loss of a burden. closing of the last shops in a region that has of a defunct monument. For decades In his novel Die Verwandlung Franz Kafka the highest number of vacant retail space in the poor state of a structure in need of explores the transformation of men in the Netherlands. Associated with modernity 1 a costly restoration has been regarded modern society . Modernity has brought is secularization6. Church attendance and a valid reason for demolition in the many changes to society. Rural areas membership has been falling for decades. Netherlands. Ecclesiastical architecture were not left untouched. Depopulation In the Netherlands, a country typified by was not an exception. In Groningen the and secularization are a reality changing a fragmented religious landscape, this cathedral of Saint Martin was pulled down local communities beyond compare. The has instigated the unification of three in 1982 after plans for adaptive reuse as adaptation to this new reality has become denominations embodied in the Protestant a library were abandoned10. Throughout a constant struggle for survival for these Church in the Netherlands7. Diminishing the country ecclesiastical architecture smaller communities. For centuries the and merging congregations give up their regardless of denomination was and is heart of the village, of social and cultural churches as costs to maintain these houses 2 being destroyed, in recent years targeting life, was centered around the church . The of worship can no longer be supported. modernist and post war edifices. The village church connected past and present, Ecclesiastical buildings become redundant Cross church in Geleen was demolished locals to a community, creating place at a break-neck speed never seen before. in 1994, the Resurrection church in (Fig.1). Decreasing population and church Apeldoorn in 2006. Only a very limited attendance forces congregations to give Another threat for the preservation number of these modernist buildings up their house of worship. Abandoned of religious heritage in the province has some form of protection. The buildings are in risk of becoming alien of Groningen comes unexpected. The possibility of destroying post war history, bodies (Fig.2), after redundancy the age 2012 earthquake of Huizinge damaging this important period in the twentieth old ties between church and community several churches came as a shock8. Over 3 century, is a reality. A few years ago in the gradually evaporate . eighty quakes have been reported in the Netherlands a contest was held electing http://in_bo.unibo.it 35 NUMERO 10 - dicembre 2016 Fig.1 - A bucolic landscape can deceive. Decreasing population and increasing unemployment, even earthquakes shake up the peaceful countryside. Photo by the author. http://in_bo.unibo.it 36 NUMERO 10 - dicembre 2016 the best demolished house of worship11. After years of desolation and redundancy Unfortunate winner of this contest it was bought by some Catholics in 2001. was the protestant Queen’s Church in A redesign converted the former Calvinist Rotterdam, its demolition still regarded a interior to a chapel dedicated to Our loss. As a process of place destruction is a Lady of the Enclosed Garden15. A statue form of transformation. For communities of the Sorrowful Virgin was placed in however the church functions as a this redesigned space and has become connection to collective memory12. For the attraction of many visitors. Today rural areas demolishing the church the sanctuary is a popular destination would destroy the village. Monuments for pilgrims in the Low Countries16. are protected from demolition by law. Warfhuizen is an interesting example of Yet its designated status as a monument a contemporary conversion and stands in could not prevent the demolition in 1990 a long tradition of religious architecture of the ‘Kleine Sint Eusebius’ in Arnhem13. reused as a house of worship for another The building had been abandoned for religion or denomination17. After the five years. A similar fate has struck the Reduction of Groningen in 1594 (note 2) church of Saint Dominicus in Alkmaar14 the Calvinist liturgy was forcefully imposed an early masterpiece by Gothic Revival in this northern province and catholic architect Pierre Cuypers. After a decade churches turned into protestant temples. of redundancy and neglect it was This conversion involved a redesign of the ultimately destroyed in 1985. The biggest interior with the whitewashing of walls, threat therefore to religious heritage in stripping of altars and statues18. Even the is not a decreasing population, or even organ was treated with mistrust, several earthquakes, but alienation; a community instruments were destroyed and others that has lost the connection and has lost removed19. Paradoxically the adaptive interest to support the edifice. reuse has safeguarded elements of the medieval church interior otherwise lost Reuse can preserve through changes in liturgy and taste. In Warfhuizen , municipality De Marne , the Mural paintings were whitewashed which local house of worship became redundant has preserved them for later generations, in the 1970’s. This Waterstaatskerk (note 1) examples can be found in Noordbroek, Fig.2 - Deceased ladybugs in the author’s house. Modernity can 20 was built for the protestant congregation Middelstum or Loppersum . Choir alientate and disconnect, leaving the preservation of religious in the middle of the nineteenth century. screens , repeatedly demolished in heritage an enduring concern. http://in_bo.unibo.it 37 NUMERO 10 - dicembre 2016 Catholic churches in later centuries,