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HERITAGE & HISTORIC BUILDINGS PROJECT REPORT


phase of the Fondaco’s history more authentic than another. It makes visible the idea of the historical palimpsest, in many places exposing the accumulation of layered and historic materials, to encourage people to acknowledge it is both historic monu- ment and modern building.”


Historic fascination


Our project refutes the idea of declaring one phase of the Fondaco’s history more authentic than another


OMA’s fascination with old buildings and the challenges associated with their restora- tion was first explored in the exhibition 'Cronocaos', for the 12th International Architecture Biennale in 2010. The design for the Fondaco, unveiled the same year, is the latest in a trio of widely praised renovation and restoration projects carried out by the studio. The Fondazione Prada project in Milan opened in 2015, saw the preservation of a 19th century indus- trial building, and The Garage Museum for Contemporary Art, in Moscow, opened the same year, comprised the renovation of the 1960s Vremena Goda restaurant, a prefabricated concrete


pavilion that had been derelict for more than two decades.


The restoration of the new Fondaco went through an extensive two-year period of structural investigations that revealed a patchwork of historic alterations. The origi- nal towers had been removed, and the courtyard was covered with glass in the 19th Century, then in the 1930s the build- ing was almost entirely reconstructed with modern concrete technology.


Regardless of the history of adaptations and the structure’s lack of authenticity, it was granted the legal status of ‘monument’ in 1987. This restricted OMA to a finite number of structural changes including new vertical circulation routes, new entrances from the Campo San Bartolomeo and the Rialto, a new steel and glass pavilion, suspended above a central courtyard, and finally a wooden terrace on the roof provid- ing views over the city.


Most new additions were needed to ‘refunctionalise’ the building to meet contemporary needs, such as the addition of


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ADF FEBRUARY 2017


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