Location: RAVENNA, Italy 19'000 sqm 2017
Client: IGD SIIQ SPA - INRES COOP
Type: Commercial

ESP shopping mall in Ravenna doubles its size and services with a brand-new wing designed by Area-17 and INRES. 19'000 square meters, hosting 50 new businesses, makes of ESP one of the most relevant shopping mall in Italy, counting now over 100 stores. While harmonizing with the earlier architecture, the design is meant to provide strong visual evidence of the extension, to be read even on an urban scale.

The main façade is characterized by a covered walk converging in the new entrance defined by monumental volumes. The sinuous movement of overlapping layers encourages entering the building, but it also anticipates the design of the interiors. The custom-made street furniture points out the effort made to create a relational space other than a commercial space. Lingering outside, it is possible to appreciate the vibrancy of the inside atmosphere through floor-to-ceiling windows, and vice-versa.
The new gallery’s layout is based on the addition of a commercial ring linked to the preexisting environments. The original idea aims to create a path where visitors will not feel lost despite the significant increase in size. The architectural language enhances the layout, modelling the interiors according to smooth and fluid lines, which guide clients to discovering the mall stores following an even, natural flow.
Two squares are the focal points of the path: the one where the old and the new parts link together and the food court. Here, the urban topos merges with elements inspired by the natural world –stylized trees and skylights framing wide portions of the sky. Explicit references guarantee a visual continuity with the former gallery, particularly the floor design picks up the same materials and style of the original one.

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SHENZHEN, China 1'000 sqm 2017

Area-17 designed a precious gallery that connects the three Shui Wan 1979 residential towers to each other and to luxuriant urban parks surrounding the area. Copper glares from the ceiling beam across the space. Deliberately bare, it is furnished only with custom-made seats playing with the contrast between the rigorous volume in corian and the unevenly soft outline of plants.

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RAVENNA, Italy 19'000 sqm 2017

ESP shopping mall in Ravenna doubles its size and services with a brand-new wing designed by Area-17 and INRES. 19'000 square meters, hosting 50 new businesses, makes of ESP one of the most relevant shopping mall in Italy, counting now over 100 stores. While harmonizing with the earlier architecture, the design is meant to provide strong visual evidence of the extension, to be read even on an urban scale.

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CUENCA, Ecuador 400 sqm 2016

When the Moscoso family bought the Palacio de Cristal in 1995 it was almost in ruins. They then started the transformation process that eventually would restore it to its former splendor. It took years of patient and caring work by Gustavo Moscoso and his sister May, supported by Area-17’s Enrico Tomidei, a team of artisan restorers and local craftsmen to fulfill the vision conceived by the Moscosos and to gather a refined selection of unique pieces of furniture, chosen with the help of interior decorator Julio Vinueza.

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FORMIGINE, Italy 6'500 sqm 2017

Formigine Ipercoop is the first Coop’s supermarket designed to be LEED Gold certified. From the exteriors to the interiors, each planning decision made by Area-17 and INRES focused on a logic of environmental sustainability and energy saving. A real tree embedded in the design of the façade reminds us of all the efforts made to think of architectural solutions in respect of the natural environment.