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VERKAUF UND PRÄSENTATION • RETAIL AND PRESENTATION INNERE WERTE

Oben wie unten: Deckenleuchten verweisen ... • Above and below: Ceiling luminaires as well as ... ... ebenso wie Bodenleuchten auf den historischen Bestand. • ... floor luminaires point to the historic stock.

P hysical labour, lack of possessions and frugality were the values of the Humiliati and are emphasized by the concept of the lighting planners from Viabizzuno. Luminaires
who settled close to the Arno river in the 13th century to build the church today
embedded into the floor illuminate the centuries-old masonry. In future, the transforma-
called San Salvatore di Ognissanti. During the Renaissance, rich Florentine burghers ble added spatial structure is to be used for events as well as for temporary installations
donated money for it; bankers and merchants such as the Vespuccis commissioned fa- whereas it currently still serves to present the company history with digital media.
mous artists – Ghirlandaio and Botticelli – with designing their family chapels. Today,
however, this piety appears to have been long forgotten and the only way to save these New monument values due to conversion and integration
buildings is often their profanation.
Overall, the proud representation of an established Florentine enterprise in precisely this
Relicts of the Renaissance and of postmodernism location can be seen as a back reference to the heyday of the local entrepreneurship. On
the other hand, the staging of a luxury consumer good is a sharp contrast to the values
Since Spring 2020, the Renaissance side chapel has thus been the showroom of Officine of the poverty- and repentance movement which is here celebrated in the return to the
Gullo, the Florentine manufacturer of luxury kitchens. Instead of an altar, a rustic kitchen rough original state of the construction. These repeatedly noticeable cross connections
unit is now found in the chancel as the new spatial highlight. The designers from Super- and discrepancies are what ultimately makes the architectural and content-related con-
Spatial, whose founding member Matteo Gulla is also the director of said kitchen manu- cept very attractive and aesthetically appealing. The central theme is the subtle interplay
facturer, wanted to restore the chapel as much as possible to its original state without de- of connecting and contrasting factors. This produces a harmonious overall picture of the
nying the later constructive changes. For this purpose, they had three graduates from the ancient and the new. What is more: During the restorative, minimally invasive revitaliza-
Milan polytechnic uncover the walls and frescoes and remove a subsequently suspended tion, it has been possible to preserve the historic values and furthermore generate new
ceiling. The spatial structure diagonally added in the 1980s was preserved yet equipped monument values. Thus, for instance, the contemporary conversion comes with a new
with sliding window areas and smooth aluminium-laminate panels. The installation with practical value and the modern interpretation of different architectural styles in turn with
a modern interpretation produces a subtle shift of the symmetry axis and now invites the a new artistic value. The present project can therefore be considered a successful exam-
visitor to unconventionally pass through the chapel. The clear lines, filigree profiles and ple of sustainable conversions of church buildings which, in view of the stagnating num-
smooth surfaces of the newly added elements formally contrast with the historic texture ber of churchgoers, are needed in many places.

108 • AIT 1/2.2021