newitalianblood

Conversion of the landmarked Beaux Arts postal palace into the new Cultural Center. The design is based on a “re-coding” of the existing logic of the building. It is based on a “stack” of ceiling-high trusses that are inserted, connecting the existing steel columns in differing geometries on each level and creating a new central interior space. The two entrances as well as the existing light wells fuse together into a now-continuous lobby area. The changing geometry of the trusses shapes new balconies on the different levels that allow the visitors – following the logic of the concert halls which are part of the project – to view this new lobby spectacle from their respective balconies. “To see and be seen” becomes the premise for this grand hall in which every guest becomes an actor and spectator at the same time. FAR frohn&rojas + Rafailidis