Venice architecture studio AMAA has converted spaces within the 19th-century town hall of Arzignano, Italy, into a cafe that combines original details with bespoke contemporary elements. The Caffè Nazionale project is a “living work that embraces existing materials and their stories to create a new architecture,” according to AMAA founders Marcello Galiotto and Alessandra Rampazzo.
The studio applied a light touch to the project, celebrating the worn surfaces uncovered during the renovation. The initial phase involved clearing the space of incongruous additions and layers that had accumulated over the decades, obscuring its historical essence. This process of uncovering guided the subsequent phases of the project.
The layout was designed to maintain views of the adjacent public square, visible through large arched openings in the facade. A sequence of connected spaces follows the axis of the colonnade, maintaining views through the building towards a small internal courtyard. The cafe features a polychromatic marble floor, a coffered wooden ceiling, and custom-designed furniture created in collaboration with artist Alessandro Neretti.
“The consolidation acknowledges the passage of time, enriching the rooms with a raw and imperfect materiality that speaks to the idea of the unfinished and the continuous evolution of each element,” Galiotto and Rampazzo explained.
Image Courtesy: Dezeen
