Le radici del lavoro di Rudolf Schwarz: identità, rinnovamento, interpretazione del castello di Rothenfels (1924-1934) / The roots of Rudolf Schwarz’s work: identity, renovation, interpretation of the Rothenfels castle (1924-1934)

Rudolf Schwarz’s ten-year work on Rothenfels castle is the first step in a method that will be constantly marked by the simplification, interpretation and transformation of the ancient building. The castle located in the centre of Germany was in a state of decay and neglect, the masonries crumbling and its interiors greatly altered when Schwarz was appointed site manager for its recovery and renovation. The intervention consists of a specific program and follows a logical process that involves the constructive substance of the architecture, becoming paradigmatic in the east wing of the castle: on the one hand, small but fundamental operations are carried out to sew up and repair walls and wooden roofs, to open and close doors and windows, to demolish and raise new walls; on the other hand, there is a change in the use of the spaces, which maintain the structural elements and are equipped with artificial lighting systems adapted to the performance of community assembly and collective activities, aimed at the members of a Catholic youth movement. In the rooms of the castle, Schwarz uses nothing but walls covered with light plaster and minimal, handcrafted furnishings, painted dark: this is what he learns about the beauty of the ordinary and the poverty of materials from the theologian Romano Guardini, as a result of the meeting that took place in Rothenfels, which moved from the constructive identity of the monument and was able to hold together masterfully technique and tradition in a new relationship.