ARCHITECT'S

After having received the Olivetti Prize for architecture at the end of 1956, Scarpa, in the following twenty-four months, set up the shop under the arcades of the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco to house the exhibitions of Ivrea's industrial products, for which Adriano Olivetti imagined preparing a "business card". When modifying the external facing, the shop windows and redesigning the interior spaces, he made use of refined and skilful construction techniques which he used to mix the most sought-after materials like marble and stone, lime and mosaic surfaces, different essences of wood, metals and crystals. The construction details, whether these are those that can be seen in the weaving of the portentous floors, in the use of the stone found in the staircase, in the wooden coatings or in the furnishings, urgently solicit the attention and curiosity of visitors. Those who enter it are greeted by an unexpected light, which filters sideways through the large shaded windows, finding themselves involved in a kaleidoscopic game of transparencies and reflections.
The Olivetti showroom is a document of unequivocal historical value due to its intrinsic and unrepeatable quality, for some years it has represented an example of the losses that little attention to details can produce. Now, after the completion of the restorations commissioned by the property, the showroom testifies to the result of a happy but not predictable situation, exemplary in terms of a correct conservation of the architectural heritage of our country.
(© Negozio Olivetti)

COLLECTION

KAW