Didonè Comacchio Architects

he challenge, in a process of redesigning a pre-existing architectural space, is to recover the memory of the place and harmonize it with the new program. It is proposed to maintain the subdivision and hierarchy of the tripartite spaces according to a classic layout of the Venetian villa typology. The elevator and the stairs between the ground floor and the first floor are preserved entirely and become the pivot around which the vertical circulation is developed. The objective is to create a contemporary environment that gives new life to the building in balance between past and present: the original perimeter walls coexist with the structural reinforcement system which regularly involves the insertion of steel bracing frames inside false walls (north and south sides).

The project proposes a clear and essential architecture, which enhances the spatial qualities of the building. The concrete floor and roof of the second level (extension carried out in the 1960s) will be demolished, rebuilt and reconfigured with a lighter steel structure: the repurposed top volume will be clad in burnished seamed sheet metal, to trigger a dialogue between the contemporaneity and pre-existence. A terrace is proposed created by excavating the volume of the second level and the roof, a belvedere that frames the landscape of Monte Grappa and the magnificent Villa Piovene. This space can become one of the key places in the area, a true quality space for citizens. The system of openings on the west façade is rebalanced to recover a more orderly composition similar to the original. As regards the internal finishes, the use of materials linked to tradition is envisaged (Vicenza stone on the first floor and wood on the top floor for the internal flooring) and reinterpreted according to contemporary canons (external cladding of the second floor volume/roof and fixtures in pre-painted seamed sheet metal with burnished finish