studiometrico » on site

Spazio 33 Opening

Administrator — Tue, 24 May 2011 15:15:47 +0000

Sunday the 5th of June at 12.00 o’clock there will be the opening of Spazio 33, a cafeteria & wine bar that we have refurbished through the transformation of an existing pavilion located in a small park. To have a proper celebration there will be the concert of the Siena Jazz School Ensemble, closing event of Novara Jazz 2011.
Find out more about this project here.

Tags: Commercial, Novara Jazz, Oleggio, on site, Refurbishment, Spazio 33

Ice Cream and Wine

Administrator — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:04:15 +0000

In 2009 our friend Corrado decided the time was right to realize one of his dreams. His family owns a beautiful garden in Oleggio, a village about 60 km West of Milan. The garden, designed by Japanese landscape architect Hajime Miyajima 25 years ago, was granted by Corrado’s father to the city as a public facility for the kids and their parents.

A small pavilion, built by the main entrance of the garden, had been conceived as a kiosk to provide food and drinks to the visitors but was left abandoned for several years and laid in a state of complete decay. Here are some pictures of the building as found during our first site visit in 2009.

Part 1 – Ice Cream

Corrado’s ambition was to regenerate the whole garden through the transformation of the pavilion into a commercial activity, and the first idea was something in between an ice cream shop and a cafeteria. A tenant who was already running an ice cream shop – and was willing to expand his business – was found and the project started. Here are few images describing our design proposal.

The basic principle of the project was the insertion of a new (warm) structure within the existing (cold) one. The interior of the new fully-insulated ‘box’ was almost entirely covered in light maple wood. The layout of the floor, the walls and the ceiling was determined by the one of the bricks that had been inserted in the concrete of the existing platform by Corrado’s father, who used to produce… bricks and built the pavilion in masonry. Our proposal featured also fitted element in painted wood and generous windows toward the garden with painted wooden frames. The new wooden façade was extended over the area of the existing pavilion originating a veranda that extended the interior space toward the garden.

The project was developed in details, the planning application was submitted and achieved and we went to tender in early 2010. Then came the spring, and everything seemed so perfect and smooth… In June 2010 site works started and went on full speed for a couple of months…Then came (another) crisis. For some reasons – they don’t need to be explained here – the tenant stepped out from the project and from the agreement with the landlord. Without a manager the dream seemed to have reached its end, site works were stopped, the project went on hold and… we woke up and in autumn.

Here some pics shot on site in June/July 2010…

Part 2 - Wine

Luckily, after few months of stall, we realized later that it was probably just a nightmare: Corrado found new tenants, 3 very nice guys – best friends to each others – that also had a dream: quit their long time jobs to start something together, they just needed the right chance… and we just needed the right people! The project took off again, we were delighted, but we were immediately asked to confront with a new challenge: turning Ice Cream into Wine.

At first it seemed that the designers were more interested than the clients in rethinking their own project, but it was soon obvious that it was more than just an architect’s whim, and that it was not about choosing a different color, or moving a piece of furniture. The new tenants liked the idea of the cafeteria, and they were also fine with ice creams, but the place they had imagined was completely different. They had a very clear recipe, and it featured three main ingredients: food, music and wine.

Perhaps this project would have been totally different if it had started from scratch, if it hadn’t had this specific story, or its ‘previous life’. Much of the first proposal survived through the second one… and at a first glimpse it may even seem that nothing had actually changed. Nevertheless we have found the effort of ‘re-doing a project another time’ much harder than the one of simply ‘doing a new project’.

Even describing the new project feels particularly difficult… especially now that we are very busy on site again, completely absorbed in the construction process and quite obsessed by an imminent deadline: The Grand Opening on the 5th of June with a live concert, closing event of the Novara Jazz Festival 2011. In the meantime check out some recent pictures from the building site here, we’ll keep on posting…

Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Mara Brozzi
Claudia Brunelli
Gloria Ferrari
Francesca Vargiu
Valeria Vitali

Tags: Commercial, Novara Jazz, Oleggio, on site, Refurbishment, Spazio 33

ZUM – 4

Administrator — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 13:12:26 +0000

Our last entry about the project ZUM was posted in July 2010, and that’s quite a long while… Nevertheless we have been constantly busy with the development of site works, so we think the time has eventually come to show some progress.
During the past months different persons collaborating with us have been shooting a good deal of photographs.
Take a look at them after the break…

On the 22^ndof June Francesca Pozzi came on site. The steel structure of the so-called ‘Block B’, an independent new construction placed on pilotis along the Eastern boundary of the courtyard, had already been completed and workers in white suits were busy painting black the bearing elements that will remain exposed. Demolition works were still going on in ‘Block A’ – the existing building – on the top floor and the old roof had been completely removed.

On the 29^thof June the new reinforced concrete beam on top of the boundary walls of Block A had been completed. Everything was then ready for the installation of the new steel trusses of the roof. The steel frames for fixing the new windows were also ready to be walled up in Block A.

On the 13^rd of July, under the most unbearable Milanese heat, Carla Vitali was brave enough to show up on site after noon, climb the scaffolds and shoot these pictures describing the steel trusses being assembled and installed. More progress in Block B is also visible at this time with the completed montage of the outer sandwich panels.

On the 20^th of July Francesca Pozzi was back on site and shot some more pictures on Block A second floor as the steel trusses montage continued.

On the 26th of July, when everybody was leaving Milan in search for some shadow, the black structure of the roof was completed and casted its shadows on the second floor surface. The trusses, designed by studiometrico and developed by Ing. Marco Clozza, have been conceived not only to support the roof, but also to carry the weight of the new hanging mezzanines.

After the holiday break – on the 14^th of September – the sandwich panels had been placed and the Block A was eventually covered providing some shade to the workers. The hanging mezzanines corrugated iron sheets had been also layed out.

These pictures from the 21^st of September show the installed steel structures of the stairs leading to the mezzanines of Block A top floor. To transfer all the weight of the roof structure onto the existing pillars, the mezzanines are hanging from the steel trusses and the stairs are suspended by steel tubular elements.

On the 24^th of September Iacopo Boccalari, a talented student and a great handyman that was doing his internship at studiometrico giving an important contribution to our project KOSHO, showed up on site with his camera and its wide angle lens. His photographs render the size and proportions of Block A and Block B interior spaces. Thanks Iacopo! You are really able to provide the right tools in the right moment…

These photographs were shot by Carla Vitali with a beautiful autumn light on the 20^th of October and show for the first time the exterior of Block A after the removal of the scaffolds as well as the newly installed galvanized steel structure of Block A’s staircase toward the inner courtyard.

During her last visit on the 22^nd of November Francesca Pozzi depicted the progress of Block A: the galvanized steel structure of the stairs, the outdoor corridors and the elevator, the newly assembled sandwich panels façade toward the courtyard and the black framed windows on the street. By that time gypsum boards had already made their appearance on site as demonstrated by few images shot inside Block B.

The completion of this project has been postponed by few months, but we are confident everything will be done before Easter!

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli
Michela Fancello

Design Consultant:

Gennaro Postiglione

Structures:

Marco Clozza (Atelier LC)

previous posts about this project:

ZUM – 1

ZUM – 2

ZUM – 3

Tags: Cometal, Industrial building, Milan, Office, on site, Refurbishment, Zumbini

ZUM – 3

Administrator — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 10:10:50 +0000

To describe the development of our project ZUM, we are very happy to publish a new set of pictures that Francesca Pozzi has been shooting for us on site in the last months.

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli

Design Consultant:

Gennaro Postiglione

Structures:

Marco Clozza (Atelier LC)

previous posts about this project:

ZUM – 1

ZUM – 2

Tags: Cometal, Industrial building, Milan, Office, on site, Refurbishment, Zumbini

ZUM – 2

Administrator — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:44:46 +0000

Last June we published a first post about this project for the transformation of an industrial building into offices to rent in Milan. Then we have been silent… but not idle.

Last fall we have been busy with the tender, in October Cometal S.p.A. has been appointed by the client as the main contractor and in December the project eventually went on site! We are now able to publish some pictures showing the result of the main demolition phase and we hope to keep on posting as the works progress through the whole year.

Design Team:

Lorenzo Bini
Claudia Brunelli

Design Consultant:

Gennaro Postiglione

Structures:

Marco Clozza (Atelier LC)

previous posts about this project:

ZUM – 1

Tags: Cometal, Industrial building, Milan, Office, on site, Refurbishment, Zumbini