House of Creativity
Restoration and reuse of the former convent of S. Maria Maggiore
Year 2006 – 2009
Area 1.320 mq
ClientComune di Firenze
Location Firenze, Italia
The former convent of Santa Maria Maggiore is a building built in the seventeenth century by combining medieval buildings and it is located not so far from the Duomo.
Studio Lauria, on behalf of the Municipality of Florence, worked on the building’s restoration project and on its reuse to host a cultural center dedicated to youthful creativity that would later be called the ‘House of Creativity’.
The works discovered part of a cycle of 17th century frescoes and allowed to restore the original spaces to the former convent by demolishing partitions created during the 20th century.
The most important interventions were the glass closing of the porch, the construction of a new steel and glass staircase and the insertion of lift and systems. In this case it was decided to declare their presence through the design of an exposed metal element.
The works officially closed in December 2010 and immediately after the property was managed, by an association that contracted the architect Daniele Lauria to define the furnishings and the visual communication.
Below, on the right, the area of the former seventeenth-century convent as it looks in two maps of 1427 and 1584.
