Zara Rome | Duccio Grassi Architects

At the first visit, the unexpected architectural design make the visitors perceive the original intentions of the architect: extraordinary interior volumes
which open through immense windows towards the city. The former tenant had closed these windows for merchandise reasons and for technical reasons,
the passage of the implants.
To restore the light, the lightness, the transparency, the thin size of the original floors became a must. The central patio cannot hosts icons as it is an icon itself.
Certainly, the commercial spaces have now changed compared to the 20th century: there are needs for safety and climatization, and the amount of people
has increased enormously and the merchandising is much different. The project must create the harmony between these requirements and the architecture's
soul. This task is eased by the passion and the competence of the client.
On the exterior, the designers have re-opened the large windows towards the city, creating a filter, which acts as an osmotic membrane and embraces all floors inside the cube / building. Inside, each window has a double metal sheet shaped as a drapped curtain. The holes of the two metal sheets are coincident: facing them you can see outside, the sun, the rain, the city life; passing by them you perceive only the light which enters with different effects according to
the time of the day.