The new Consulate, with floorspace of 1000 sqm organized on a single level, offers large reception spaces for services (over 108,000 Italians reside in the regions of Aragon, Murcia, Catalonia, Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and Andorra), and ample zones for overall promotion of Italian production.
The renovation project is the result of collaboration between architecture firms: Imad of Alberto Formatger for spatial layout and technical-legal aspects, and Lagranja, whose co-founder is the Italian architect Gabriele Schiavon, for the interiors, together with Michela Mezzavilla for the lighting design. The furnishings feature selected one-offs created by internationally acclaimed Italian architects and designers based in Barcelona, such as Benedetta Tagliabue, and rising talents like Aldo Sollazzo and Carmelo Zappulla, as well as pieces by Italian design companies like Artemide, Cassina, Pedrali, Casa Lube and Listone Giordano.
The Classica 190 Rovere di Fontaines collection, in the Mattplus finish by Listone Giordano, covers the floors of the offices and the events space. A pure wood that offers a vivid experience of authenticity and wellbeing. The natural oak parquet, of classic, timeless elegance, gives the interior design warm shadings, great solidity and intriguing irregular grain.
“The project for the new Italian Consulate in Barcelona is the result of a complex synergy between architecture, technology, security, functional quality and aesthetics. Our challenge as designers was to create a space that would respond to the needs of the Consulate, coordinating the collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Consulate General of Italy in Barcelona, Lagranja and Imad. The outcome is an elegant, energetic and forceful space, that represents all Italian citizens in its area of influence,” says Alberto Formatger.
The colors of the Italian flag, reinterpreted in more subdued tones of green, pale gray (to represent white) and red, are an important feature of the project and are used – never together – to mark the zones and indicate the various uses.
