Montesarchio (BN), Italy
Mission Title: Architectural Alchemy Architecture by Cherubino Gambardella
Mission By: Salvatore Magliulo, Raffaele Di Bona
Mission Finished on Date: 28-06-2008
SCRIPT
- Visit Montesarchio and the Palazzo d'Oro.
- Tape your way to the building, showing it approaching from afar.
- Have someone take you inside, and interview some of the people who live/work in there. What do they do? How does the Golden Palace feel on the inside?
- Take a look at the neighborhood. Show the building's impact from different perspectives. Play your reportage on visual contrast and details. Interview people about the building as a stand
- out landmark and a city's feature.
- Don't forget to tell story about your experience, think of this piece as a biography of the building, an essay, or best, a wildly creative experiment.
TRAVEL BAG
How does a golden building melt with the nearby environment?
They say the first impression is the one that really counts. It might be a small detail screwing up the picture, or a big exaggeration standing out and drawing all the attention on itself. They also say a bad feature on one's face become good if sported with pride. The people of Montesarchio know architect Cherubino Gambardella from 2004, when they let him put his hands on the town squares in order to recover and redevelop them. Last year they commissioned him for another redevelopment, this time an unpleasant concrete building at the very entrance to the city.
Cherubino Gambardella's last work in Montesarchio was a rather alchemical act, turning a shitty building into a golden one. The Golden Palace – Palazzo d'Oro – has a name that sounds as high as its creator's and it reminds some of a little gianduiotti, all shiny golden and edgy. Montesarchio's emblem is itself pretty cocky, with Hercules and all that gold, but a whole palace dressed in solid, massive bling is a pretty impressive sight. The plain color and the design make it more sober, but you just can't get any bolder than living in a house of gold.
Mission Report
Our adventure started at 8 in the morning, and we were low spirits because we did an inspection in Montesarchio the day before, and we perfectly knew that the interior of the Palazzo d'Oro weren't accessible because they were still under construction. We hadn't any interview organized, and we thought we wouldn't have been able to shoot a good documentary. We stopped at the red traffic light, and our Mini was noticed by architect Cherubino Gambardella, who approached us and invited us to visit the owner of the Palazzo's factory. We interviewed them both, we went to the Palace, where we noticed that we were getting people's attention with our Mini and our camera. So, we tried to realize some interviews, but people weren't really willing to talk or to get shot by the camera. Even if we had interviewed both the Palace purchaser and its designer, we also wanted to talk to someone who actually worked there. So we turned to Andrea, who works at the ground floor restaurant of the building: he talked positively about the structure, and reported to us his countrymen's opinion, underlining the importance of the fact the Palace differs from the surrounding context. We tried to set up good shootings, but we have been limited by small spaces (which didn't allow us to shoot the building from afar) and also by wooden panel covering the building because of the works in the square. We got back to our car quite satisfied of our morning, and we drove toward home. Our experience has been really positive.
Salvatore Magliulo, Raffaele Di Bona~
