Cassina Showroom Durini renewal – This will be the space

On its 50th anniversary, during Salone 2018 Cassina Showroom reopened with a renovated look that brought a touch of contemporaneity to the city oldest design space. Patricia Urquiola’s project involved a sequence of architectural interventions, which began in 2017 by rearranging the display areas and then went on to connect them to the offices and the cupola. These various spaces represent the new ‘In-store Philosophy 3’ language whereby materials and colours are used to add rhythm to the spaces and define the working and communal areas.

For Salone 2018 the new cupola – partially sectioned off to connect it to the new areas – and stairway were showcased for the first time. When entering the store, the Venetian terrazzo flooring, which separates the two side wings of the showroom decked out in a parquet floor, acts as an entrance runway, leading to the helix shaped staircase in varnished iron. Here a thin metal sheet wraps around itself in a spatially articulate gesture, moving towards the cupola overhead.

In the centre, the skylight stands like a looking glass to the sky and the overhead light filters right into the showroom. At the entrance to the cupola a walkway in Ceppo di Gre stone, flanked by a garden of grasses, leads to the terrace, covered in composite wood planks.
Two French windows allow access to the new Poltrona Frau Group offices. Arranged in three distinct spaces, they include a semi-public space known as the “Social Area”.