HERITAGE & HISTORIC BUILDINGS PROJECT REPORT
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a central lift and stair core, and a large feature escalator with wood panelled sides and crimson red steps, which appears to hang in mid air but is actually supported on a steel truss.
“The escalator and lifts are like excavations through the building, through which the existing structure is left naked, rough and brutal,” says Laparelli. “As people move through the building they go from areas that are polished and into areas where stratification of layers is exposed.” The escalator is visible through a new hole punched through the rear wall of the gallery, intended to create a sense of permeability.
Every proposed alteration was debated at length with the City, fortunately the existing fabric was considered robust enough due to the consolidation process that took place during the 1930s. Some compromises had to be reached along the way. OMA had proposed radical interventions during early stages of design, when knowledge of the existing structure was scarce, such as an
escalator running through the courtyard that could be lifted like a bridge to free up the courtyard space for events. “Step by step we were able to gain back some ground by demonstrating that certain areas of the building were not very authen- tic but stable enough to support structural changes,” says Laparelli.
A plan to reinstate a historic dark red paint scheme on the facade was abandoned when Venice’s strict chromatic strategy prevented the use of bright colours. Instead, the red was used on internal plaster walls facing the galleries.
Hovering space
The building’s most striking contemporary addition is a Miesian steel and glass ceiling, replacing a 19th Century glass ceiling, that hovers over the central courtyard, and doubles up as the floor of a new exhibition space above.
The ceiling is laid out in a grid of 20 metre-long beams that span from one side of the courtyard to the other, mimick-
The restoration makes a virtue of exposing the building’s various layers of architectural history
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