Interiors acting as repositories of memory - Moving beyong Genius Loci

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role of interior architecture in revitalizing memory within the context of adaptive reuse with a particular focus on vernacular structures in rural Italy. Grounded in the interconnected theoretical concepts of authenticity, palimpsest, and adaptive reuse, the work challenges the essentialist notion of genius loci as a fixed identity of place. Instead, it proposes a more dynamic understanding of place through memory. Drawing from the works of theorists such as Pierre Nora, Alois Riegl, Rodolfo Machado and Jeff Malpas, this thesis frames authenticity not as a static historical artifact, but as a contemporary value that emerges through ongoing reinterpretation when reinvigorated. In this context, the palimpsest becomes the conceptual and material act of reuse, through which a structure is understood as a layered document of time, memory and transformation. Adaptive reuse is not seen solely as a method of preservation or economic strategy, but as a design approach engaging with the past without trying to revert to it. It enables continuity without imitating the past, and memory without nostalgia or things frozen in time. Adaptive reuse is intrinsically tied to the interior, where architecture serves primarily as the envelope. Interior interventions become vessels through which meaning, identity and memory are reinvigorated. Interiors, the narrative within the architectural envelope, act as repositories of memory.