Banca Unipol

The renovation and transformation project of this building intended for use as a bank fits into the disintegrated and variously painted context of a thoroughfare that connects the city of Massa with the sea, with a "non-colour", a shade of gray that constitutes the surface on which a few simple signs stand out; the project does not impose itself with extravagant shapes and tones but is perceived in the chaos of the suburbs precisely for the simplicity and the abstract character in a certain "absolute" sense that the primary colors of the projecting elements, combined with the dark background, give to the whole . The project matrix, consisting of a single rectangular shape, is repeated with only material variations, until it constitutes the entire façade: the glass openings, the canopy above the entrance, the shape of the building itself, defined and highlighted dark in colour, they equally originate from a single geometric element, without leaving room for any formal satisfaction. The whole complex dissolves at night, when the color of the plaster is absorbed by the darkness and, the only ones to reveal the presence of the building are the evanescent lights filtered and reflected by the crystals. The design idea is therefore based on the desire not to overwhelm the noise of the suburbs but in the attempt to lower the tones, to create a space which, due to its rigor and formal cleanliness, brings with it the idea of ​​silence. In this sense, the choice of colors and elements of the façade does not reflect an arbitrary and easily modifiable choice, but is rather the result of a personal research that questions the meaning of a sign in the urban fabric, the architectural quality, the coherence of a project setting.