Interior Reuse. An Italian Conversation with the Built Environment

The essay explores the theme of architectural reuse, with particular attention to the Italian context, where transforming the existing built environment represents one of the principal challenges and opportunities for contemporary design. Beginning with Bernardo Secchi’s reflections in the 1980s, it is emphasised that the future of architecture lies in the ability to reinterpret the already built, in response to a halt in urban growth and a renewed focus on existing heritage. In Italy, the culture of reuse is especially evident in the field of interior architecture, where interventions within internal spaces assume a central role, one that remains theoretically underdefined. The concept of “architecture as interior” emerged in the post-war period through the critical contributions of Bruno Zevi, Giulio Carlo Argan, Luigi Moretti, and Renato De Fusco, who placed interior space at the heart of architectural thought, redefining architecture as the art of spazieggiare. This theoretical approach is grounded in an empathetic and psychological relationship between human beings and space, conceived not merely as a physical envelope but as a site of experience. Conversation with the past—whether through the recovery of historic or ordinary buildings—translates into a transformative action that often preserves visible traces of historical stratification. Various intervention methodologies, ranging from the “creative restoration” of Carlo Scarpa, Franco Albini, or BBPR, to philological conservation or stylistic reinterpretation, attest to a plurality of design strategies. More recently, a tendency has emerged to reinterpret the existing fabric with respect and expressive autonomy, foregrounding interior space as a mediation site between the ancient and the contemporary. In summary, in Italy, “interior reuse”—a term that qualifies as the more commonly used “adaptive reuse”—constitutes a privileged field for engaging with the relationship between history and design, tradition and innovation, technique and spatial narrative.