Part of Venice ’s famed Piazza San Marco will soon open up its doors to the public for the first time in five centuries . Dezeenreports that Procuratie Vecchie , the old of three interlink palace on the square , will finally become an artistry locus and headquarters forThe Human Safety Net , a nonprofit organization aimed at empower disadvantaged individuals and communities around the public .
First , British architectDavid Chipperfieldplans to repair the castle , an undertaking that ’s expected to last until 2020 . It has been the main office for Generali , an Italian insurer , since the mid-1800s , and the renovation will create unexampled outer space for The Human Safety Net , a social initiative fund by Generali . When it reopens , the palace will host exhibition and public programming bear on to the organization ’s mission , which is to help refugee and children growing up in impoverishment .
The three - story palace was rebuilt in the sixteenth 100 after the original 12th - century social system was damaged in a fire . Like the other palaces in the square , it was once home to Venice ’s proxy , high - ranking government decision maker . The overhaul and repurposing of the building will make its interiors accessible to the world for the first prison term in 500 years .
Chipperfield has plenty of experience touch on historic buildings . He is currentlyat workrestoring Berlin ’s New National Gallery , a construction primitively plan by storied 20th - century architectMies van der Rohe , and has previously remediate and restore other historic structures , like Berlin ’s 19th - century Neues Museum and agroup of 11colonial - epoch buildings in Shanghai .
The restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie will for the most part be interior , but it will also include recreating a historic road through the palace to the Royal Gardens on the waterfront — which Generali isalso involvedin restoring .
[ h / tDezeen ]
