Ceramic tiles, charm and perspective

The new « Porcaro..In » showroom, a seven hundred square metre menswear outlet recently opened in the southern Italian town of Aversa, is housed in a low cuboid shaped building that was in a very poor state of repair at the time of purchase owing to a lack of maintenance.
The roof, which consisted solely of insulating sandwich panels supported by a light steel framework, was subsequently demolished and rebuilt allowing for the installation of air conditioning systems.
The entire structure, formerly used as a gym, was stripped and remediated by means of infills, counterwalls and the injection of concrete into a damaged supporting beam.
The façade of the volume, including the two false columns that delimit the property on either side, was entirely clad with white pre-painted galvanised bent steel sheet. Two full-height windows allow
a clear view of the showroom and display the store name « Porcaro..In » in large letters.
Small wooden platforms and theatrical light projectors create a distinctive visual effect in the small window space. Square panels of oak wood and white sheet metal in a chequerboard pattern (a kind of signature of the architectural practice DA.MA. design) serve to lighten the visual impact of the steel entrance door. The interiors, characterised by rationality, elementary forms and pale colours, extend over two levels: one raised with respect to street level and the other a basement, originally only accessible by a stairway located almost half way across the upper level.
Architects Davide Gallo and Marco Ruggiero immediately had the idea of turning the staircase around so as to create a vantage point at the entrance where customers could view both the raised floor and and part of the basement, allowing them to choose whether to go up or down.
As the architects are the first to point out, the unifying element of the project is the use of ceramic tiles. « The most important choice was that of the floor covering, where we wanted a visually simple product that at the same time would enhance the surface and the perspective.
The PrimoPiano series from Monocibec fully met our needs with a large-format tile (50×100 cm in colour Bone) and a rough surface finish. We chose the same series for some of the walls in the modular format and Cerulean colour. »
The furnishings were all specially designed and commissioned from local artisans. An interesting effect was created by mounting exterior wood parquet vertically on a wall. As well as standard lighting on the sales counters and along the distribution routes, the client specifically asked for direct illumination of the items of clothing using lighting fixtures capable of emphasising individual details. However, apart from the front store windows, natural light enters only through basement window wells and a few small openings. External accent lighting is provided by two bidirectional fixtures mounted on the columns and by recessed spotlights under the cantilevered roof.