Discover the artistic interior of the Radisson Collection Hotel Palazzo Nani in Venice, Italy. For this stylish hotel, Concreta created all the common areas on a design project by Studio Marco Piva, according to furnishing concept aimed at keeping intact the strong historical identity of the building, enriching it with a language of elegant contemporary style.
The Radisson Collection Hotel Palazzo Nani in Venice, Italy, is one of the most recent and prestigious realizations by Concreta, the Postalesio-based company specialized in the high-profile contracts for hotels, commercial spaces, and residential areas, all sectors in which the Italian contractor from Valtellina has developed an experience that has led the company to a leading position in the national and international field.
The particular nature of this ancient Venetian palace and the complex logistics required by working on a design project in the lagoon represented a challenge faced and won thanks to the combination of ‘attention to detail’ and ‘global approach’ that has always characterized the philosophy of Concreta.
The Structure – a Sixteenth-Century Historic Building
The Radisson Collection Hotel Palazzo Nani is located in the heart of the Cannaregio district, a particularly suggestive and ‘authentic’ area of Venice, a fundamental route for the urban layout of the city since the Middle Age when the Cannaregio Canal was the entrance to the city for those who came from Padua or Treviso through the lagoon routes. Rich in restaurants and ‘bacari’ (wine bar), shops, and artisan boutiques, with the quiet of its tiny streets and its unmistakable architectural imprint. From here you can easily reach the rest of the city on foot or by ‘vaporetto’; the Le Guglie ship stop is located right in front of the hotel. The Santa Lucia train station is less than 10 minutes away on foot.
The building that houses the hotel is a sixteenth-century historic building that belonged to the ancient Nani family, active in the political, social, and cultural life of the Serenissima. Over the years, various properties have taken over and the building has changed its intended function several times. It was a private residence, an Austrian barracks, and, finally, a school. During the work on the site, objects and documents were found that testify to the previous lives of the building. Some of the finds, recovered and appropriately treated, have enriched the furnishings of the rooms and the garden.
The façade is punctuated by a game of arches and elegant coats of arms in Istrian stone that seem to be due to the intervention of Alessandro Vittoria, who helped emphasize and enhance the preciousness of the building.
Prestigious brand of hospitality in the world, Radisson Group wanted to transform this historic residence into an enchanting hotel with 52 rooms and suites and 3 private apartments, which has become part of the Radisson Collection chain, where hospitality finds its highest expression in the offer of iconic structures, which reflect the character of the territory and the place, combining the atmosphere of an ‘authentic’ stay with the comfort of a high-profile design.
History and Contemporaneity in a Hotel Furnishing Project
For this hotel, Concreta created all the common areas on a project by Studio Marco Piva, according to a ‘box-in-the-box’ furnishing concept aimed at keeping intact the strong historical identity of the building, enriching it with a language of elegant contemporaneity.
Spaces are large and bright, some overlooking the Cannaregio Canal and offer chromatic shades recalling the nuances of the frescoed ceilings, in combination with seats with intense colors that refer to the expressions and values of the Territory, the colors of the water, the reflections of the glass, the interiors of the ‘gondolas’.
The realization of the common areas in this project takes on a very particular meaning, as the hotel was conceived as a place of hospitality that is not closed and exclusive but, on the contrary, open to the city and usable by those who wish to enjoy the Restaurant, the enchanting ‘secret’ garden – as are many of the Venetian gardens – and the relaxation of the lounge bar and lobbies.
The non-stop dialogue and full harmony that has characterized the collaboration between the designers of Studio Marco Piva and the Concreta team – from the choice of colors and materials to the sharing of prototypes – made it possible to translate the inspiring concept into a high-profile creation, fully respondent to the contents and needs of the project and the Client.
The Realization of Common Spaces
In all common areas of the Radisson Collection Hotel Palazzo Nani, you can read the sign of a formal balance of decorative effects, to leave the view free to enjoy these spaces and to collect the infinite suggestions coming from the lagoon city.
The main entrance of the hotel located on the ground floor houses the console reception and gives access to the two restaurants and the lounge bar/breakfast room.
For the Private Restaurant, a milky white ribbed glass wall paneling was chosen to give rhythm to the space between the seats, a covering embellished with an integrated backlight. In the main restaurant, the focus point is made up of a sculptural monolith filter, a large marble bench with upholstered seats in soft teal velvet. A curvilinear bar counter dominates the scene and follows the floor islands. The covering is a textured carpet of white Venezia marble and Paradigma marble which contrasts it in a darker shade. The chromatic dominant of the spaces is the lagoon green in its various shades.
In the lounge bar – which serves also as a breakfast room – very dark colors have been selected running from wall to ceiling to create an immersive, enveloping atmosphere and to emphasize precious custom metal elements – such as the wall bottle holder – with a ribbed dark wood that gives rhythm to the wall, the motif of which is taken up by the striped ruby-colored upholstery that recalls the interior of a ‘gondola’.
Elegantly Frescoed Spaces
The two lobbies in the ‘noble halls’ on floors B and C are characterized by being elegantly frescoed spaces, with ‘marmorini’, muses painted in the ovals above the doors of the second-floor hall, fresco ceilings with Apollo, Venus, and Cupid, and Orpheus in Olympus.
These spaces have required particular efforts to harmonize the current intervention with the needs of a historic home that expresses its beauty and fragility. Thus, the recovered and cleaned historic ‘seminato’ floor was joined by custom-made mobile furniture designed by Studio Marco Piva, of the same kind but in different colors in dialogue with the colors of the frescoes, with lounge chairs created in collaboration with Natuzzi, alongside tables, work tables and meeting tables always designed by Studio Marco Piva.
The gym, located on floor C, is housed in a frescoed room cleaned with the intervention of a company specializing in the restoration of works of art which has followed the restoration of all decorative elements of the building. The peculiarity of this space consists in the presence of large self-standing cylinders, almost high to the ceiling, handcrafted in metal bent by Concreta and fully equipped, with a high part with decorative and separation function and a base with cabinet function to contain towels, products, small tools, and accessories and with an original metal mesh designed to separate while maintaining the lightness of a perforated surface crossed by light. Looking ahead, the area will also host a sauna.
Lighting Design Project of the Hotel
The lighting project includes both custom and branded luminaires. The technical lights were created ad hoc in collaboration with Artemide and completed with large circular chandeliers and LED light sculptures from leading brands such as Italamp, Flos, and Vibia. The decorative lighting was handled by Concreta. The large chandelier made up of opal glass spheres especially designed for this project stands out. The opalescence effect crosses the rooms and common areas like a fil-rouge and lights always refer to the transparency and reflections of the glass, to emphasize once again the strong relation with the Territory.
Dressing the Hotel with Fabrics and Creating a Space for Enjoyment in the Company of Greenery
It is not surprising that in a project with a high content of historical and territorial identity like this one for Palazzo Nani, fabrics play a quite relevant role. Here, the declination of the textile elements and the chromatic choices are directly related to the comfort of the seat and the scenographic rendering of the context. Most of the fabrics that dress the hotel spaces are produced by Rubelli, a historic and prestigious Venetian brand. The bright velvets are by Rada Tessuti and the colorful rugs by Besana Carpet Lab play with the textures of the floors and give contrast and movement.
In perspective, even the large 350 square meters garden of the hotel will become a space to be enjoyed with a bar outside and open to the city. In the green, there are sculptures, statues, benches, and sofas, and two large stone bathtubs recovered during the works – coming from a quarry that is no longer active – and today returned to new life to tell the story of a distant past.
After the soft opening that took place in October 2021, the official inauguration of the Radisson Collection Hotel Palazzo Nani is scheduled for February 2022, during the celebrations for the Carnival of Venice.
Concreta Press / OGS PR & Communication
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