Vetreria De Majo, from a factory of making to a factory of hosting

Beginning: Right from the feasibility study it was clear that a hotel on the island of Murano would trigger a process of urban regeneration in an area where the heavy glass production of past centuries had given way to a not insignificant social and economic void. It was equally clear to us that the new hotel complex would have to maintain the industrial atmosphere that the plant, despite its abandonment, still had. From the outset, we wanted to preserve the industrial, essential, functional, hard, even rough character of this vast complex, which was designed for the manufacture of glass and glass art objects. Numbers: 104 rooms, over 3000 square metres of indoor common areas, 6000 square metres of outdoor common areas, courtyards, terraces. 12 existing buildings, 1 new building next to the light tower. 12 Factory Buildings: The former furnace was characterised by the presence of twelve distinct and separate factory buildings, located in an area of 12,000 square metres. The sequence of the bodies is linked to the production of glass, carried out by successive and consequential steps. The general state of preservation was rather precarious, some bodies had collapsed. The main building of the former bakery stood out among all of them, with its typical industrial shape, flanked by the brick chimney. The size of the area, the diversity of the volumes and the appearance of the buildings, and their distribution in different directions, gave the factory the appearance of a village with connecting paths between the various buildings. The project wanted to maintain this particular dimension, making the new hotel a sort of diffuse hotel united by calli, corti and campielli. From a factory of making to a factory of hosting: The project is based on the valorisation of the industrial complex, the large, connected spaces, the visible structures and the typical, raw materials of a place used for industrial production. In keeping with the particular atmosphere of the kiln, the care that most distinguished the project was the attention paid to the structural characteristics, materials and finishes in which the pragmatic, functional matrix of the intervention was to be recognisable. Exposed concrete and brick structures, exposed steel girders, rough plaster and steel frames were juxtaposed with elements capable of giving a sense of welcome and comfort without looking for contrasts or contrasts, but rather favouring a dialogue between old and new, industrial and residential. Sustainability: The redevelopment of this vast complex must be considered from the perspective of urban and building sustainability: the redevelopment and valorisation of the existing building stock is part of a logic of saving soil and recovering building materials, according to the principles of the circular economy. The architectural quality of the project makes it an upcycling project rather than a simple recycling project. Interiors: The dialogue between the industrial character of the original building and the need for comfort and hospitality of the new destination has also become the common thread running through the interior design. Attention to the signs and traces left by time on the materials and to the uniqueness of the local craftsmanship tradition were the inspiration for the structures, architecture and interiors. Each place - the entrance, the common areas, the distribution areas, the rooms - has been transformed into an episode in a story whose protagonists are raw, rough industrial materials, but also careful finishes and specially designed, light, elegant objects. The industrial world is represented by the polished concrete floors on the ground floor, the dark grey opaque metal window and door frames with their characteristic square division, and the fragments of existing masonry and plaster, left exposed. The same applies to the textured plaster chosen for the common areas. The family of chairs designed for this hotel also recalls the industrial world, combining essential tubular steel structures with the refined fabrics of a historic Venetian textile manufacturer, Rubelli. The lighting of the spaces is entrusted to the mastery of Artemide, which together with the H&A studio has studied the lighting of the hotel. The light bodies of normal production have been combined with two families of lamps made to design: Livia and Maria. Livia is a raw steel and brass 'torch' with a transparent glass diffuser, used as a suspension and wall lamp. Maria, on the other hand, is a re-proposition of the ancestral figure of the lamp with a brass stem supporting a bell-shaped diffuser in raw iron and red artisan glass. There are also two large luminous sculptures that extend across the ceiling of the hall and lounge, in homage to the lagoon and its constantly moving water, with its reflections and vibrations. Created by De Majo, these luminous sails give the essential, rough spaces a high poetic density. In the rooms too, the comparison between context and function continues. The irregular texture of the exposed brick walls is accentuated by the grazing light coming down from above and the clarity of the upholstered furniture. In the bathrooms, the original design of a life-size Murano chandelier from the 1950s, from the de Majo archive, takes centre stage.