Type of project
Office
Year
2010
Tag
Corten Steel White Stairs Glass Virus Interior
Photographers
Paola de Pietri
Status
Completed
Location
Siena, Italy
The defining feature of the project, a fusion between an old office building and commercial premises, is the creation of a new entrance overlooking Via Tommaso Pendola, which has finally placed the workspace in a dialectic relationship with the city.
The key to interpreting this new dialogue is the large transparent window, jutting out slightly into the street, in which reflection and transparency alternate during the course of the day.
The commercial space to be converted consisted of a narrow and deep tunnel dug into the tuff rock, with an completely irregular perimeter determined by the ravages of time, characterised by a random sequence of recesses. This irregularity inspired us to magnify and enhance this feature, accentuating it up to ceiling height in order to make the space resonate.
The other structurally significant feature was the large opening cut into the slab, creating a double volume and interrupting the rhythm of the false ceiling.
The furnishings also enter into a dialogue with the architecture by contrasting with it. On the ground floor, two parallel platforms represented by a pair of long tables establish parallelism in the internal corridor and, at the same time, underline and strengthen the perception of the random arrangement of the walls. Alternatively, the desks on the first floor move in the space in line with the logic of the false ceiling panels.
In this unique panorama made up of variable shafts of light, rare right angles, and walls that are seldom parallel, there is a dialogue between black and white, between materials and colours. The staircase that connects the two floors incorporates a corten steel ribbon with a balustrade made of sheet metal side panels, hammered thin on the edges and folded over each other, bestowing on the whole structure a distinctive dynamism.
