The Reuse of disused Historical Buildings: The case of prisons

Prison architecture has characteristics that show peculiarities, as well as architectural and morphological ones related to the use of a strongly connotative monumental language, which incorporates a significant emotional, social, political and historical burden, and is often perceived in a negative and repulsive way. These often disused architectures, rising in urban or peri-urban contexts, can profoundly influence the development of the surrounding building fabric. In the processes of functionalization, which must favour a new vision of detention facilities, it is fundamental to allow both the reading of the testimonial value of architecture and the recognition of new functions. Preserving the spatiality and distinctive aspects of prison structures can help to initiate this process in a conscious manner that respects all the values at stake. Within this framework, the contribution focuses on the qualification of existing types of prison architecture, the definition of some typological ‘invariants’ and the identification of a criterion for the choice of new compatible functions that take into account three fundamental issues: the architectural aspect and the need for conservation, the urban context and the social context. In detail, a case study is discussed, in which three different reuse scenarios are proposed for the valorization of the real estate compendium called ‘Ex Carcere Giudiziario’ located in Lagonegro (PZ).