Electa Bookshop
Rome | Colosseum Archaeological Park
Venice | Biennale
Migliore+Servetto designed the new format for the Electa bookshops, creating an innovative interior design for three shops in Rome, inside the Colosseum Archaeological Park (Colosseo Primo Ordine, Colosseo Secondo Ordine and Palatino).
The different interventions are united by a light design for the furnishings, by the choice of very light tones and by the transparencies of the micro-perforated metal sheets designed by Migliore+Servetto, but they are declined with precise characteristics for each point of sale, in the desire to give a different identity to each space. Thus, to the light shades, the sheet metal elements add a different chromatic presence for each of the stores (yellow, green, red). Studio Sonnoli's design, between memory and irony, also goes in the same direction, a graphic backdrop that alternates harmoniously with the furnishings.
The new bookshops designed by Migliore+Servetto propose an integrated display system that enhances the richness of the contents and the different types of merchandise. In fact, the layout has its strength in being a flexible system, adaptable and interchangeable in the context of the different needs and sizes of the rooms and offering different reading levels.
The display space is essentially structured on the basis of five main elements: wall murals, subdivided by product categories; focus elements, for the targeted presentation of individual products or themes; central elements: thematic islands, subdivided by theme; and a cash desk element, for customer support and assistance.
Both the murals and the islands are characterised by a basic load-bearing module: 'the frame', with its ability to simultaneously symbolically and functionally circumscribe the merchandising on display. In fact, the frame element works synergistically with the merchandising offer, becoming a sign repeated, added, juxtaposed according to requirements, acting as both background and support for the products themselves.
The new spaces, designed by M+S, putting the visitor at the centre and thinking about his or her movements in space, have been conceived as a sort of contemporary Wunderkammer, where the visitor is surrounded by memorable and significant objects. Spaces that become narrative landscapes, a place of discovery that becomes memory, stimulating cultural growth, through the offer of content that communicates the historical identity of the space, its cultural value and contextualisation with the history of its archive, as well as the Italian character of the places.
The project to redesign the Electa bookshops in Rome follows the lighter renovation of the Electa bookshop in Venice, in the Biennale spaces (Cà Giustinian and Corderie), inaugurated on the occasion of the 59th International Art Exhibition. Recently, the studio has also signed a punctual intervention for the temporary shop in Venice Lido, realised on the occasion of the 79th International Film Festival.
Migliore+Servetto, fondato nel 1997 da Ico Migliore e Mara Servetto, è uno studio di progettazione italiano con sede a Milano che ha realizzato oltre 600 progetti in 21 nazioni, ottenendo prestigiosi riconoscimenti internazionali, tra cui tre Compassi d’Oro. Lo Studio è specializzato nell'ideazione di progetti di branding e di spazi narrativi – aree pubbliche, musei, mostre, installazioni, progetti per il retail, l’accoglienza, l’intrattenimento - che investono tutti i livelli, dall’interior design alla grafica, dai video alla multimedialità, a cui si affianca l’attività di ricerca e didattica, a livello internazionale. Infatti, Ico Migliore è Professore al Politecnico di Milano e Chair Professor alla Dongseo University di Busan (Corea del Sud), mentre Mara Servetto è Visiting Professor alla Joshibi University di Tokyo. Tra le imprese e istituzioni che si sono affidate allo Studio si citano grandi aziende come Max Mara, Tod's, Giorgio Armani, Adidas, Fila, Lexus, Alcantara, Boffi, Samsung, Whirlpool, Bombardier, New York Times, Wallpaper*. Portano la firma di Migliore+Servetto interventi per alcune delle principali destinazioni culturali in Italia ed Europa, come il Museo Egizio di Torino, il Museo Miramare di Trieste, il Museo Chopin di Varsavia, l’ADI Design Museum di Milano. In tema di design urbano, Migliore+Servetto ha firmato il progetto del Blue Line Park a Busan, in Corea del Sud, vincitore del City_Brand&Tourism Landscape Award 2021, e il Waterfront Door / Into the Ocean, realizzato sempre a Busan in collaborazione con 40 artisti locali. Inoltre ha curato l’Interior, Exhibition, Multimedia & Graphic Design delle Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco di Venezia, progettando gli spazi della nuova sede della Fondazione sociale del Gruppo Generali, The Human Safety Net.