2024 - Light Renaissance

Backgrounds
Torre Rinalda was built during the Kingdom of Naples period. It was deployed on the coastline to send visual signals to the surrounding towns as a warning in case of sea invasions. Today, the upper half of the tower has collapsed, and its function of defending against sea invasions no longer exists.
At the same time, we note that even four years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, society remains in a semi-isolated state. While physical contact is no longer prohibited, psychological isolation still exists, and many people find it difficult to reintegrate into social life as they once did. We refer to this phenomenon as the post-isolation era syndrome.
Therefore, how to reconstruct defense towers using light, and continue their ancient mission of protecting people, that is, safeguarding people’s minds, and achieving the renaissance of light is the main issue considered in this design.

Plug-in Luminous Frame System
We adopt a plug-in framework system as the primary method for reconstructing the defense tower. The framework exists in a manner that respects the ruins. Without damaging the materials of the ruins, the upper part of the frame hangs aluminum square tubes of varying lengths, completing the architectural shape to its original form. At the same time, each aluminum square tube is coated with fluorescent material, so when night falls, light can fill the gaps between the tubes,echoing its ancient function of lighting beacons to protect the people,allowing the defense tower to stand quietly and intact by the sea.

Light-The emergence and disappearance of spiritual places
We have defined the main functions of the renovation project as meditation and socialization, and according to time, we have endowed it with a narrative meditation route.
As night falls, the form of the defense tower is restored to completeness by light. At this moment, the light tower guides visitors into meditation. Each floor of the defense tower corresponds to the five levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, progressing from lower to higher levels, from darkness to light, from isolation to unity. The activities on the lower floors are mainly for individual meditation, while the higher the level, the more social spaces there are, and the broader the landscape view becomes.
When visitors reach the top at dawn, the fluorescent glow of the white aluminum square tubes merges with the daylight, and the newly built parts disappear in the sunlight. At this time, visitors seem to float in the air, their vision and psyche reaching the highest level (self-actualization level), feeling extremely comfortable.
We believe that such a sequence of meditation can help visitors make the leap in psychological levels, moving from the psychological isolation of the post-pandemic era to unity, continuing the defensive mission of the defense tower.