Le Stanze del Vetro is a museum dedicated to 20th and 21st century glassmaking which was founded by Pentagram Stiftung and supported by Fondazione Giorgio Cini. Located on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, the 7,800 square foot museum is part of a campus of historic buildings which have been restored and repurposed for cultural and educational uses. Housed on the ground floor of a former boarding school, the museum retains the school’s rationalist vocabulary and interior configuration.
Read more Close
The design transforms existing classrooms into seven intimately-scaled galleries for temporary exhibitions and connects them with a new enfilade passageway. Along the original corridor, steel shelving serves as open storage for the museum’s permanent collection of Venini glass, while vitrines mounted inside the original classroom doorways create a visually-permeable separation between the corridor and individual galleries. Perimeter windows bring controlled natural light into the galleries.
The project includes a new accessible entrance, reception, book shop, media room, restrooms, and storage. In keeping with Venice’s tradition of craftsmanship, the firm worked closely with local artisans on the design of the museum’s custom Italian walnut and steel vitrines, steel shelving, and hand-blown glass lighting.
- Client:Le Stanze Del Vetro
- Location:Venice, Italy
- Size:7,800 sf
- Date:2012
(Photography: Harsh Light, Le Stanze del Vetro)
Ground Floor Plan
