Il progetto d’architettura come rilettura e riscrittura

As in Italo Calvino’s description of Zaira, every place we encounter is never merely a spatial configuration, but rather a complex fabric of memories, stories, and perceptions. These are often invisible traces, sometimes forgotten, yet they continue to shape the way we inhabit urban space. The city is not only matter, but also narrative, experience, and emotional stratification: within it, every element becomes charged with meanings that connect the present to the past. From this awareness emerged the design intervention in Alcalá de Henares. The goal was to establish an authentic dialogue with the existing urban fabric, reinterpreting its historical layers through formal choices capable of evoking rather than imitating them. Materials, geometries, and alignments became tools for a harmonious interaction with the city’s identity-bearing monuments, particularly with the Catedral Magistral de los Santos Justo y Pastor. The project thus presents itself as an act of attentive listening and reinterpretation, where new architecture arises from engagement with history, restoring meaning and continuity to an urban landscape rich in significance.