Camera, Italian Photography Center

The Premises
In the spring of 2014, the Camera Foundation commissioned the architect Benedetto Camerana to undertake the renovation the ex-convent of St Joseph in Turin, built between 1845 and 1870 at number 18 in Via delle Rosine. The resulting structure was designed to host CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, the Italian Centre for Photography.
The original structure, made up of a sequence of seven large halls joined by a long corridor with vaulted arches, provided the initial basis for the transformation of the historical spaces, with the aim of turning it into a contemporary exhibition venue which might also host archive and educational activities, as well as projects to be deployed across the territory.

The Project
The project for CAMERA originated from the desire to adapt a 19th-century space to contemporary exhibiting needs with the addition of a series of functional elements. The interventions carried out previously had led the space in question to be even more fragmented, which was a more of a hindrance than an advantage in exhibiting terms. The attempt was therefore made to free the room of secondary elements, thus valorising the pre-existent 19th-century structure.
The original layout was therefore maintained and improved in order to offer two exhibition solutions: on one hand the corridor, exploiting almost 70 metres of wall, and the various rooms. Together they offer the chance to stage several exhibitions at the same time.
Each room was endowed with plasterboard counterwalls, integrated with the space and enhancing scope for adaptability, while also guaranteeing the reversibility of any transformations and the structuring of an abstract space. The spaces were painted pure white, a non-colour universally codified for exhibition purposes, which focuses attention on CAMERA’s real goal: the education of the gaze.
The characteristic element of the entire layout is undoubtedly the main corridor: the counterwall is not parallel to the wall but slightly convergent, thus providing a perspectival acceleration which serves to form a deep space. Furthermore, the counterwall partially conceals the historic decorations, characteristic elements of the 19th-century architecture. The decorations are thus partly covered by the counterwall, while leaving enough on show for the visitor to be able to imagine them, while at the same time acknowledge the interventions carried out on the existing building.
The all-enveloping whiteness is countered only by the original aggregate flooring, renewed and polished, the only tangible, material element which takes the visitor back to the history of the place, both past and present.
Another fundamental component of the project is the lighting, designed to constitute an element of architectural valorisation of the exhibition space, and implemented in collaboration with Erco, the European leader in light design for gallery spaces. Circuits of ceiling-mounted track have been installed, as well as luminous LED units which feature an innovative yet minimal design, coupled with very high-tech lighting performance.
A major aspect of the renovation process concerns the preservation aspect linked to the exhibition of photographic works. Humidity and temperature are variables that cannot be underestimated with regard to the correct conservation of photographic material. For this reason, the entire area has been equipped with a high-performance air treatment system.
The historical spaces transformed by the white of the plasterboard are a response to the needs put forward by CAMERA. This is where the architecture starts: from the requirements of a project which go on to provide scope for research and innovation.

credit

Project: Benedetto Camerana,
with Pier Massimo Cinquetti
Collaborators: Marco Caretto, Ivan Rotella, Marco Biondi, Marco Caprani, Mattia Greco, Giulia Mondino, Shinobu Hashimoto
Contractor: M.I.T. Srl
Client: Camera – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia
Procedure: idirect assignment
Chronology: progetto preliminare (maggio 2014), progetto esecutivo (aprile 2015), inaugurazione (settembre 2015)
Location: Torino
Gross floor area: 1500 mq
Building cost: € 1.000.000
Photography: Alessandro Calabrese, Paolo Ranzani