Client / Artopia gallery
Year / 2023
Transformation of a building, formerly used as a laboratory, into an art gallery for the new headquarters of Artopia.
The space is organized in a simple and functional way, with a masonry wall running longitudinally along the floor plan, separating the main exhibition area from the video room and service area at the back, which are symmetrically accessible from both sides of the wall.
The large hall features an impressive ceiling height of up to 11 meters, with a roof supported by four ancient wooden trusses, and is lit by large windows and portholes overlooking the courtyard. The smaller, more intimate room can also be used as a screening room and maintains visual communication with the upper floor, which houses a rectangular gallery—offering potential for exhibition dialogues between the two levels. The upper floor is conceived as a mezzanine with a balcony overlooking the main exhibition space below. At this level, there is also an open and informal office for the gallerists, which can also serve as a welcoming area for visitors.
The gallery interiors are sober yet expressive, providing an ideal backdrop for the artworks on display. The design philosophy guiding the interior was to intervene as little as possible, preserving the memory of the place and treating the new additions as permanent installations. In this way, art is present not only during exhibitions but also in the transitional periods between installations.
One of the most distinctive design features is the terrazzo floor in the large hall, enriched by 322 circular inlays arranged in a square grid pattern. These inlays form a collection of Italian marbles (Arancio di Selva, Bardiglio Imperiale, Billiemi, Botticino, Calacatta, Carrara, Cipollino, Giallo Siena, Grigio Carnico, Nero Portoro, Lava stone, Pietra Pece, Rosa Asiago, Rosso San Marco, Verde Alpi), which also serve as a measuring tool for positioning artworks during setup.
The suspended staircase, which barely touches the floor, is another unique and iconic element of the space—conceived as a sculptural iron piece embedded into the wall.
Credits and technical information
Concept and Design / Martinelli Venezia
Photo / Matteo Pasin (Elena Mazzi and Seulgi Lee exhibition), Michela Pedranti (Eva L'Hoest exhibition), Adriano Mura (Farewell to the Stage exhibition)