Grocery Shop in Varano, Italy

Set on the visual axis between the ruins of the Castello and the remains of the Palazzo Pallavicini, the shop, with its 1960s’ concrete barrel-vault roof, was not appropriate to its historical location. The structure has now been enclosed in a casing of brickwork typical of the area. The plain faces of the new storeroom are contrasted with the front facing the Castello. The shopfront is divided into a rhythmic colonnade surmounted by an entablature. Framed at the sides by projecting end walls, it establishes a bold interplay of solids and voids. A continuous steel girder spanned across the massive brick piers supports a new concrete slab that forms a protective “portico” over the shopfront area and allows the windows to recede into the shade.