Arcipelago Shopping Center is a commercial intervention in which the design approach based on the search for detail and the combination of materials is expressed on a large scale. The intervention is part of an industrial area, which in recent years has seen a rapid conversion to a commercial pole, located near Carini, a small town on the outskirts of Palermo.
Studio Name: PuccioCollodoro Architetti
Design Team: Arch. Gianluca Puccio & Arch. Gianluca Puccio
Area: 7700 mq
Year: 2022
Location: Carini, Sicily, Italy
Photography Credits: Benedetto Tarantino
Lighting: Coco Lumo
The building on which the intervention was carried out is a former industrial building dating back to the 70s of about 7700 square meters, characterized by a low body with a mainly longitudinal development, inserted within a rectangular lot.
With Arcipelago, the designers wanted the old industrial building to be perceived in a completely new, recognizable and at the same time symbolic way for the entire context. The elevations have been completely redesigned and treated as a new skin covering the old building, especially the main one, where a large asymmetrically cantilevered roof has been added, which further accentuates the longitudinal development of the property.
The façade was entirely clad in aluminum, a flexible and economical material, which allowed us to better express the project idea. The main façade, characterized by large windows set in the dark aluminum cladding, recreates a new design, crowned by a “corten” effect portal, which creates a clear material contrast.
The elevations are characterized by a texture that reproduces the trunks of the trees of an imaginary forest, which is a veiled reminder of the sustainable will of the intervention. The same appeal can also be felt inside, where the shopping arcade has been redesigned along its two routes.
In fact, a play of false ceilings characterizes the over 100 m of the gallery, where the sobriety of the light finishes contrast with the wooden blockboard system that screens all the systems. The gallery is also characterized by the presence of large circular hollow elements, from which indirect light is emitted.
During the night, all the elevations are characterized by suggestive light effects. The main façade leaves room for commercial logos, with the logos of the brands clearly visible and with a large ledwall that acts as a business card; the led system of the side elevations, on the other hand, emphasizes the textures reproposing them as a negative of the version visible during the day.
