#architectscarmelobagala #bonavogliabrothers #catania Showroom in Catania
Show-room for the display and sale of clothing intended for retailers of important national brands.
The showroom is in Catania, housed in a former carpenter's shop in the Le Ciminiere district, the large 19th-century sulfur refining complex, the only example in southern Italy of a real area of industrial archeology buildings.
The project emphasizes the monumental character of the old structure in exposed brick and lava stone, combines the roughness of the work space with the elegance of furnishings and accessories already used in other contexts and recovered with elegant taste and desire for recycling.
The space is between the street and a multifunctional courtyard/greenhouse for meetings and dinner parties: three bays with 6-metre high cross vaults form the backbone of the exhibition space. The first 2 welcome, sofa, oval tables refurbished with lava stone slabs (the distinctive material of the city of Etna), in the last one a more internal space reserved for business meetings and an area with kitchen and services.
One of the most interesting challenges of the project was to infuse the warmth of a lived-in space into an important and spartan structure that had the charm of a decayed and abandoned cathedral. The chipped walls and the details of the previous uses were treated in a conservative way, while resin cement was chosen for the floor, a neutral material with an industrial flavour. On these bases a flow of enveloping and recurring shapes (round/oval) has been grafted which welcome the guest, guiding him and defining the rooms/bays. The color palette varies from gray to dove gray to red. Large mirrors and oversized chandeliers give a theatrical touch: in a space intended for the contemporary fashion business, we liked to mention the opulent elegance of the ateliers, cradles of last century high fashion.