Two Electa bookstores within the Colosseum Archaeological Park in Rome, Italy, designed by Studio Migliore+Servetto, have been included by the Prix Versailles Selection Committee in the World’s Most Beautiful Emporiums List 2024.
Project Name: Electa Bookshops at the Colosseum in Rome
Studio Name: Migliore+Servetto
The selection features the projects that will compete for one of the three Prix Versailles 2024 World Titles (Prix Versailles, Mention Intérieur, Mention Extérieur). This is an internationally recognised award in the field of architecture and design dedicated to contemporary creations that leave an exceptional imprint on everyday life, and it will be given out on 2 December 2024 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
Studio Migliore+Servetto has designed a new format for Electa’s bookshops within the extraordinary location of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, creating new spaces for culture and encounters. The result of this project is a work that is now recognised as an example of innovation, creativity and eco-sustainability.
The different interventions carried out are united by a system of extremely light furnishings in the design, which is distinguished by the choice of light tones and by references to light and transparency. This is achieved by the micro-perforated sheets designed ad hoc that give a unique identity to each space thanks to precise chromatic variations, which are different for each point of sale, from sulphur yellow for Colosseum I to scarlet red for Colosseum II.
To connect and, at the same time, emphasise the different parts of the store, the format provides full-height graphic fields within each space, such as furniture backdrops, interpreted by Studio Sonnoli, poised between memory and irony.
The new bookshops designed by Migliore+Servetto propose a system integrated in the display that enhances the richness of the contents and places visitors in dialogue with the imposing and monumental context into which each bookshelf is inserted. It is a flexible, adaptable and interchangeable layout, structured on the basis of five main elements: wall display elements to accommodate the different product categories; wall focus elements, for targeted presentation of individual products or themes; central double-sided elements with the function of defining routes and flows; thematic islands, for prominent display of individual themes; cashier, support and customer service element.
The sign that characterises both the murals and the islands is “the frame”, with its ability to symbolically and functionally circumscribe the merchandising on display. In fact, the frame element works synergistically with the product range, becoming a sign that is repeated, added or juxtaposed according to the needs and acting both as a background and as a support for the products themselves.
The new spaces focus on visitors and their movements in space, conceived as pathways within a sort of contemporary Wunderkammer. Beyond its function as a sales space, the bookshop thus becomes a narrative landscape, a place of discovery that turns into memory, in constant dialogue with the extraordinary architectural context that contains it.
The design of the two Electa bookshops is part of a wider series of interventions by Migliore+Servetto that includes two other points of sale within the Colosseum Archaeological Park (Palatino San Gregorio and Clivo Palatino) in addition to the renovation and enhancement of the Electa bookshops in the spaces of the Venice Biennale (Cà Giustinian and Corderie), inaugurated on the occasion of the 59th International Art Biennale, and at the Lido for the temporary point of sale for the 79th edition of the Venice International Film Festival.
