082_SHOWROOM GIANNI CHIARINI

The project for the new Gianni Chiarini’ s showroom in Milan consists in a partially hypogeum exhibition space, located underneath an historical building in the heart of the city. The access has been re-set up through a recessed patio in the courtyard pavement, which hosts the new stairway that leads to the showroom below. This morphological operation modifies the ground floor of the external area, emphasising the entrance and inviting the visitor to descend. The resulting basement patio has therefore transformed into a small garden, a formal filter between the public space and the more intimate and welcoming internal showroom. Inside, the intervention aims to retain and enhance the morphology of the existing by minimal use of materials and furniture. The exhibition space results essential and refined, thanks to the contained employment of materials that accentuate the contrast between walnut furniture, warm and colour charged, and cold surfaces of walls and floor, entirely cladded with Agglotech concrete agglomerate. The brand’s bags are displayed onto 3 mm thick metal shelves attached to the Agglotech walls, which act as neutral background that enhances the items, while the custom designed furniture operate as architectural devices that define and order the internal spaces. The central room consists of a long open space, featured by the presence of the false ceiling composed of wood triangle-shaped listels. The structure is retreated from the perimetral windows in order to allow light to largely enter the space and make it visible from the courtyard outside.