San Barbato Pavilion

Immersed in the naturalistic setting of Monte Vulture in Basilicata, the San Barbato Pavilion is an architecture devoted to festivals and events that completes the hospitality project of the San Barbato Resort. With a heptagonal plan, the shape traces the profile of a volcanic cone and culminates in the skylight, which opens like a crater. And just like a volcano, the Pavilion is intended to be a source of energy that is emitted by human relationships.
The building consists of an underground area for services and the large main hall on the ground floor, free from barriers, which can welcome up to 400 guests. It is a highly flexible space, reconfigurable depending on the organisational demands of festivals, exhibitions, concerts, show-cooking events and every other form of meeting and cultural activity. A connecting corridor takes you to the adjacent serving area with show-cooking kitchens, while the outdoor part, covered with local stone, is located in front of the main entrance. A raised pedestrian bridge that passes above the road for vehicle traffic connects the Pavilion to the Resort’s access area. The colour shades of the deck made of Corten and the transparency of the glass balustrade adapt naturally to the colours of the landscape.
To increase energy efficiency, guarantee sustainability and optimise timescales and realisation costs, AMDL CIRCLE has designed a prefabricated modular structure made of seven equal portions to compose the heptagonal volume. The primary structure consists of seven twin columns and the same number of ceiling beams, which converge internally towards the glass skylight. The secondary framework is inserted with a lozenge design that allows the thickness of the beams to be reduced and the visual impact of the structure to be lightened. All the elements are exposed larch wood.
At its perimeter, the Pavilion is closed off by walls made of metal uprights and glass infills, the transparency of which connects the inside with the outside visually so that guests can feel in contact with nature. On the roof, seven sloping titanium zinc modules reproduce the slopes of the volcano: the large aperture at the top simulates a breaking of the Earth’s crust from which zenithal light enters to illuminate the room, while at twilight artificial light escapes from the fissure recreating the effect of lava. The San Barbato Pavilion seems like a sculpture of fire that emits energy.