“Re-Planting” is nestled in the picturesque village of Mulazzo, Tuscany—renowned for its wine festival and ancient olive trees. This project envisions a dynamic Osteria that blends local tradition with contemporary experience in a dilapidated dry-stone building. The design celebrates the region’s heritage of wine and olive oil through tasting experiences and shared production spaces under the piazza where locals can collaborate to produce goods and then showcase them in an on-site visitor centre shop on the top floor that connects to the open square behind. This strengthens community ties and creates new opportunities for sustainable tourism and income generation.
Seasonal Virtual Reality installations and projected exhibits in the existing vaults offer immersive glimpses into the traditional production processes, deepening visitor appreciation. These vaults are subtly reinterpreted through slender steel interventions that allow them to structurally support the modern Corten steel clad, steel-framed insertions above. The revitalised social areas are reconnected through a thoughtful network of bridges and trellises, adorned with strawberry grapes that can be picked by passersby, reinforcing a sensory and communal connection to the landscape. A tall sandstone circulation mass supports the main bridge and pays homage to the stone buildings that may have existed there centuries ago. The trellises also follow rolled Corten steel stairs that flow down the slope on stone terraces that create space for more olive trees to be planted. Pedestrian access is therefore improved through this intervention and is reinforced by repaving and levelling the historic Porta Soprana route for wheelchair access. “Re-Heritage” intentionally knits tradition with modern experience whilst retaining the charm of Mulazzo.
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