an Italian Palazzo in Shanghai

Inside the Expo Cultural Park 2035, the Italian Pavilion comes back to life: like an archaeological find, a new Renaissance ‘skin’ wraps it like a shrine. The rule of the Italian Palazzo is realised in a three-dimensional mesh of steel, detached from its pre-existence. Inside, Vasari’s galleries form a distributive ring that places the pavilion fragments in a logical sequence. Standing out from the disorder, in the central courtyard, a white, hollow tower rises up, the fulcrum of the vertical distribution between the different levels. The ground floor and the panoramic attic are an extension of the park and the city within the building and accommodate public activities and functions; the intermediate levels are intended for exhibition spaces.