CUSANUS ACADEMY IN BRIXEN, BOZEN
The Restoration of an Historical Building as a Design Challenge
MoDusArchitects
The Cusanus Academy stands as one of Brixen’s landmark buildings. The architects were called upon to design a careful renovation that could absorb a host of technical and code related requirements without compromising the integrity of the Academy. More specifically, the need for greater accessibility prompted the architects to rethink the vertical and horizontal circulation as a network of social, more public spaces.
The two most significant and visible design moves occur at the ground level, whereby a newly formed axis opens up the building, and at the lower level, whereby a large conference hall becomes a new fulcrum. MoDusArchitects interventions on the building oscillate between mimetic, reciprocal and carefully contrasting vocabularies. What results is a shifting narrative between the old and the new that confounds the boundary between the two, offering the Cusanus Academy timeless architecture.