projects | Viabizzuno progettiamo la luce

in the heart of antwerp and close to the prestigious royal academy of fine arts, a forgotten city schoolchapel was restored and transformed into a fashion showroom with out-loft. in the 17th century, the building was one of the most important sugar storages of europe. with the bombing in world war II, the building was completely destroyed and the catholic authorities decided to build a new campus to educate young female teachers. 90 years after the bulding was demanding a new identity and destination. the society domano international fashion – a retail agency that distributes different fashion brands – purchased these spaces to create the headquarters of its belgian activities. at first floor, the owner built his private shelter in the city centre. starting from an historical architecture, anversa architecture studio designed a space dedicated to retail with clean and essential profiles, to obtain a timeless beauty. removing all the useless elements and recovering all the existing decorative details, the architects converted little charming rooms into materic but quiet spaces, with a sacred atmosphere. in collaboration with kurve and vbobenelux, light has been designed to restore the candlelight effect and preserve the shadow areas. the guideline was not to consider the light fittings as decorative elements but to enhance exclusively the strenght of the right light. all depends on the light source: it gives dramatic accents to the space and underlines some structural elements, furniture and artworks. the light fittigs themselves can’t be too invasive in a space that already shows high quality finishes. given the need to have also an accent light dedicated to the apparel, a varied light scenery was required. Viabizzuno tom spotlight, chosen in black finish, has been used both in halogen and metal halide. the choice of using only spotlights depended on the willing to preserve the shadow areas and show the thickness of the building material. in the showroom the tom-spot was mounted on a 3 phase track-system: all tracks were hidden behind beams and architectural elements so that no spots and tracks are visible to the clients. in the loft private area the halogen ‘tom’ has been inserted with a low voltage plug system and some jack-points were recessed trimless so to position and re-position the different tom spots. by using only the minimal number of light fittings, the sacral spirit of the building has been reinforced, creating a space of meditation and total rest. only one light fitting has been used in the bathing area, where the c2 linear led guide the visitor through the tunnel towards the cubo doccia, positioned like it was a baptismal font. the light is surface-grazing to show clearly the rudeness of the brick in its different layers. the lighting blurs the new architectural elements and mixes them with the historical parts: a contemporary example of how craftmanship, art, light and architecture can melt together creating graceful spaces and magic atmospheres.