Teatro Margherita, built on reinforced concrete piles along the waterfront of this southern Italian city, will be transformed into a center for contemporary art. The second building of this cultural institution will be the former fish market located opposite the theater - a two-storey building in the mainstream of eclecticism.
The theater was not built on water out of a whim: a certain Petruzzelli family, the owners of the main city theater, once signed an agreement with the mayor's office on theatrical monopoly, but it only extended to land. But such a way out (which demanded considerable efforts from the builders in 1912-1914) has now set Chipperfield another difficult task: to protect the interiors from excessive humidity and temperature changes in order to create a full-fledged museum space of an international level in the building.
The architect is going to follow the path he started in Berlin
New Museum. The dilapidated parts of the building will be preserved as much as possible, strengthening them, but not restoring them to an "ideal" state, and will also supplement them as needed with new elements of simplified forms. The centerpiece of these additions will be the ceremonial "spiral" staircase, which should reverse the centrifugal movement common to all theaters. Now visitors should not scatter among the spectator's seats, but, on the contrary, move along the route of inspection, clearly imagining the structure of the museum. In addition to the exhibition halls, which will occupy the domed foyer, the former auditorium and the stage and curtain zone, the complex will have ancillary areas, a cafe and a bookstore, as well as housing and studios for artists from all over the world who can come to work in Bari.
To pay for the renovation, the new center will "shelter" the collection of modern art from the Morra Greco Foundation in Naples for 30 years.
N. F.
