A commercial space that tries to open up to the city by becoming a square itself, an interior that becomes an ideal continuation of the urban space. To define this new urban interior, we started from the suggestion of Giorgio De Chirico‘s “Italian Piazzas”, with the repeated arched wings that define and delimit the square.
The arch structure becomes a founding element of the project; the central monolithic artefacts, like vestiges of a lost architecture, define the central space that develops around the cube in dialogue with the luminous sphere above. The side arcades accompany customers on an ideal walk through the imaginary square.
The basement, which houses men’s fashion, is the protagonist of a less radical intervention than the ground floor, but which nonetheless renews its character. The large central pillar becomes the pivot around which the fashion carousel revolves, with satin-finish steel hangers. The new design of the space includes a corner dedicated to the classic man, while the existing windows are rethought as large windows projecting towards a luxuriant tropical garden.
De Chirico believes that “the arched architectural structure is the metaphor of the eternal present, as an element that unites concreteness and abstraction, fullness and emptiness, interchange of interior and exterior, projection of light and shadow” (Baldacci 1997, p. 96).
Info bettazzipercoco.com
PROJECT Branà 1915
ARCHITECT Bettazzi + Percoco architetti
LOCATION Altamura
YEAR 2020
PHOTO Pierangelo Laterza
