Mario Cucinella has unveiled the project of the multi-purpose theater room of the House of Confinement of Volterra, designed by Studio MCA - Mario Cucinella Architects, in collaboration with Armando Punzo’s Compagnia della Fortezza and promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility to create a space within the prison suitable for the performance of theatrical activities and professional training for inmates.

The modular structure designed by Cucinella is completely removable and respectful of the historic frame: a 400-square-meter pavilion composed of laminated wood ribs, able to host 250 seats. “With this project, we have taken up a double challenge: on one hand the need to equip the prison with a light and flexible multipurpose theatre space, in dialogue with the history of the place; on the other creating a new cultural space for the city of Volterra [...]. The project aims to increase the cultural offer for the benefit of the whole community […]”, said Cucinella. In fact, it will be connected to the outside in a more simple way than the prison, allowing the enjoyment of the shows by the public throughout the year. The theatre will therefore be a boundary space, a symbol of the osmosis between the inside and the outside.

The hall will be built using dry technologies and natural materials, in a perspective of sustainability and efficiency, thus ensuring rapid assembly and disassembly. The project, in fact, is conceived as a stage and bioclimatic machine, thanks to active and passive climate strategies, and will allow the development of activities in a space with high standards of environmental and visual well-being.

Amando Punzo’s Compagnia della Fortezza has always dreamed of creating a real theatre inside the prison of Volterra. The work of the Company, in fact, does not stop at acting alone, but embraces all the professionalism of the theater, promoting the training of stage technicians, playwrights, tailors, set designers, and sound and lighting technicians, through educational programs and workshops. Through a more structured commitment, the future goal becomes to extend the project to prisons all over Italy and maybe create a company, able to stage shows and take care of every step of the production chain.