CASE STUDY
displaced . Intricately painted on canvas , the works were removed from their original location , placed in wall frames , and repainted — completely masking the original frescoes . Painstaking restoration gradually uncovered and revealed these delicate works and four centuries after their creation , they can be admired once again by guests of the hotel .
With little of the original interiors remaining , Romeo continued the longstanding tradition custodians and patrons of Italy ’ s grand buildings have followed over the preceding five centuries — commissioning the pioneering architects and artists of their time to create captivating novel interiors showcasing the expertise of skilled artisans and craftsmen working in the finest materials . Romeo Design began collaborating with ZHA in 2015 , selecting the architects ’ free forms and fluid lines to ensure an original design rather than the repetition and resemblance evident in hotel interiors across the globe . “ We are transforming a period building with avant-garde designs by Zaha Hadid . It ’ s a remarkable dialogue between contemporary and historic architecture ,” explains Romeo . While the palazzo ’ s exterior advertises Renaissance , the composite layout of its interiors eschewed Renaissance coherence . In converting a palazzo that had been significantly altered over the centuries — and used as a civic office building for the past seven decades — ZHA re-established a processional sequence of spaces from entry to the guest room . From the reception area ,
guests pass into the former courtyard , now vaulted with a retractable glass roof . This newly enclosed lobby is a distribution point from which the restored grand stairways lead to guest rooms and , beyond , to the garden .
Generally , the cellular organization of hotels promotes repetition , modular design , and the industrial paradigm — explaining in the similarity of hotel rooms worldwide . But the many different types of rooms in the palazzo ’ s composite footprint favored an individuated rather than systematic design approach ; adhering to the Italian tradition as a culture of the craftsman ’ s hand and the artist ’ s signature — the word design ( disegno ) itself is derived from the verb segnare ( to sign ). ZHA ’ s virtuosity with three-dimensional form facilitated the hotel ’ s design with the uniqueness of Italy ’ s artisanal tradition . Historically , the vaults in Rome , differ . The simplest is the barrel vault , and two intersecting barrel vaults generate a groin vault , in which curving quadrants from the intersecting semi-circular vaults peak in lines that connect to their points of origin , columns , or walls .
Groin vault is regular if those points are equidistant and squared , but if the two columns or walls don ’ t square , the groins themselves distort , as though stretched and elasticized . ZHA evolved this concept already necessitated by the palazzo ’ s irregular geometries : one vault might intersect another at an angle , with
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