Moda Center
A fashion show in an abandoned industrial shed
At the heart of the Venetian Plain, along the state road connecting Treviso with Montebelluna, a prefabricated warehouse from the 1970s shows its age. It is more similar to a warehouse than one of the most important exhibition halls of fashion in the Veneto region. It was once immersed in the countryside, surrounded by a chaotic collection of detached house, artisan’s warehouses, showrooms, nightclubs and shopping centres. It is in need of extensive reconstruction. The regular grid of columns dictated the rules for designing the new building.
Thanks to the nature of its regular modules, the old building could be dismantled and recomposed, as if it were a large Meccano project. The entrances, circulation, pedestrian spaces and parking were all redesigned, imagining a complex similar to a “historic centre” composed of streets, plazas and common spaces. The existing volume, emptied in some parts, was equipped with steel mezzanines. The variable slope of the steel and glass hall was designed to play with the reflections generated by the water surrounding it. The street front was designed as a 120-metre-long multimedia screen for projecting images, advertisements and lights. This translucid wall outlines the main route of shops, with users becoming a part of the advertising, projecting their moving shadows on the façade’s glass screens.
Drawings
