This beautifully designed exhibition space is a delightful place to visit, not only if you are fascinated by the art installations created there but also if you are able to appreciate the interior architecture of the building itself. This 15th century building has been restored by Tadao Ando, taking into consideration the original stone, and brick materials used there and complementing them with concrete and glass in which the new, smooth textures contrast beautifully with the old, rough ones.
This building took 14 months in restoration and is now open as a major new gallery in Venice. The architect and the builders had to tackle many issues whilst designing and constructing this building including the protection of the building against water and the long difficult process of restoring as much as the masonry as possible.
Tadao Ando’s attention to detail in the interior design of the building is very clever. The cast concrete walls are a feature which is used all around the building. His design highlights the natural properties of concrete with no paint, no colour and no finish. He has decided to leave the holes in the cast concrete which show how the concrete is made and also make the smooth concrete more interesting- this makes people want to touch. The cast concrete, holey walls have become Ando’s signature architectural feature and cane be seen in many of his buildings.