The new Mondadori Duomo bookstore, a unique cultural and meeting hub in an iconic location in the city of Milan, has opened. Housed in the neo-Renaissance spaces of the Palazzo dei Portici Meridionali, the architecture invites one to experience and be transported, amazed and conquered.
The concept of the project, envisioned by Mondadori Retail, was conceived and masterfully realised by the Il Prisma studio, which imagined the space, bringing to light particularly valuable elements of the palazzo that hosts it.
In addition, to emphasise the Mondadori Group’s strong historical and value link with the city and in particular with Piazza Duomo, an exclusive sign was created for the flagship that unites and highlights the two iconic elements: Mondadori and the Duomo of Milan.
The Mondadori bookstore in Piazza Duomo is a place capable of surprising, intriguing, inviting the exploration of its more than 1,300 square metres.
It boasts two entrances, three floors (plus a mezzanine floor), themed areas and immersive, experiential and sensorial spaces that maintain a constant dialogue with the square that is the symbol of the Milanese, the place where past and future, stories and people, creativity and innovation meet.
The entrance from Piazza Duomo creates a strong sense of continuity between inside and outside, between the city and the bookshop, but it is above all from the side entrance on Via Mazzini that the rhythmic and elegant repetition of the illuminated arcades accompanies visitors into the space, and welcomes them with splendid porticoes on the ground and mezzanine floors, with openings framed by pilasters and tympanums on the main floor of the bookshop.
Accentuating the desire to create a dialogue between inside and outside, between the products, the stories, the bookshop and the city, are the large windows that characterise the flagship: they are designed to increase involvement and generate curiosity.
The experience of meeting the author or artist will also become immersive and direct, with an area designed to be accessible and with a dedicated entrance. During the signacopies, the second window on Piazza Duomo will in fact be open to allow people to enter on a limited basis.
A large central arena is the heart of the ground floor, characterised by a system of arches and lit by natural light filtering through large glass skylights.
Thanks to its flexibility, this floor can host events that open fully to the public and contaminate the experience at 360 degrees, creating iconic and engaging moments.
The ideal immersive experiential path continues to the first floor where visitors are welcomed by large life-size iconic statues depicting characters from the world of superheroes and manga: they are venturing into Just Comics, the format created by Mondadori Retail dedicated to comic book fans.
We are Junior is the area housed in the basement. Entering the circular room, the child is catapulted into a story, in an immersive, soft, welcoming space.
Also on the -1 floor is the Mondolibri area, dedicated to Mondadori Store bookclub members.
The new Mondadori Duomo is a place for meeting, culture and emotions, made possible thanks to the skilful use of the latest technologies, perfectly integrated into the context of the bookstore to guarantee customers an even more engaging experience as well as a simple and immediate one.
An important new feature is the Immersive Room, which offers children and young people a space to interact with fantastic worlds.
Digital Signage allows visitors, thanks to the presence of screens positioned at strategic points in the bookshop, to view all the news from the Mondadori Duomo world in real time. Convenient and practical are the numerous Trovalibro touch screens, positioned on all floors of the bookshop to facilitate product exploration.
With a view to speeding up the experience as much as possible, automatic checkouts have also been introduced, an easy-to-use and practical solution that allows books to be purchased independently and quickly.
Lastly, the Mondadori Duomo bookstore wants to give customers the opportunity to try out new digital formats (e-books and audiobooks), by providing two Kobo stations where it will be possible to search for any book in the 6 million eBook Kobo catalogue in all languages (250,000 of which are in Italian).
“The new Mondadori Duomo will be a bookstore in its own right, where the world of books can be experienced in the round. It represents a unique project for our network, in a highly iconic square,” said Carmine Perna, CEO of Mondadori Retail. “In addition to books, the focus of the offer, there will be space for many other products and services related to the world of culture: from music to writing, from games to events. Ultimately, it aims to be a place for meeting and dissemination of ideas, a cultural and experiential pole at the service of the entire city and all those who want to experience it“.
For more information visit www.ilprisma.com.
Photo by Vito Covasce
