AVIVA Studios by OMA ADC

In Udine, northern Italy, local practice Alessandro Verona Studio (AV/S) has restored and repurposed the Santa Maria Tower to become part of a cultural museum that exhibits the past and present industrial and commercial activities of the area, once famous for its ironworks, cotton mills and tanneries.

After being shuttered for 15 years, the Santia Maria Tower will now be host to ‘La vetrina dell’Ingegno’ (The Showcase of Ingenuity). Dating back to the 13^th Century, the tower was once integral to the city’s defences, occupying the fourth ring of walls around Udine and serving as a link to the outside.

Since then it has existed in numerous guises, becoming a private residence rented out by the city, later being a shop, artist’s studio and ‘Museum of the City.’ Its latest reincarnation builds on the latter, with AV/S employed to restore the building and equip it to serve as a modern-day museum and be part of a wider complex.

To achieve this a new building has been added, joining the tower at ground level and occupying an existing courtyard, allowing it to act as the main entrance. Here, a new hall as well as space for presentations workshops and exhibitions has been catered for, with the new building gently integrating with the older tower.

Original ground floor arches of the tower have been restored, being returned to their original dimensions. Meanwhile, changes made to the tower in the 1990s, such as pedestals, electrical fixtures and grids have been removed so to maximise visibility of the exhibits inside from the street.

Entrance to the museum from the street is gained via an arch within the tower, with this dramatic threshold amplified by a frame that protrudes beyond the entrance into the hall. Flooring for the entrance hall uses stone from Aurisina while the ceiling has a spatolato finish, in turn mimicking the tones of the tower’s original masonry. Indeed, the relationship between old and new is highlighted through joints formed from metal and frosted glass that allows light to fall through the perimeter and delicately facilitate the subtle changes in the old tower and new hall’s plan.

Not just an entrance hall, the new building also has a rooftop terrace, able to be used for events, providing views over the courtyard and garden of the adjacent Palazzo Torriani while also acting as an emergency exit in compliance with fire safety regulations.

While this new entrance hall serves as the building’s locus, the tower itself is still an integral component of the museum, with spaces for exhibitions on the five levels above. Access to these levels has been improved with the addition of a lift, the shaft of which abuts the tower.

Temporary exhibitions populate these five floors, with each floor being dedicated to certain produce from Udine in accordance with The General Confederation of Udine Industry. On the ground floor, meanwhile, is a permanent exhibition on the history of the Udine Industrial Association, as well as ticketing facilities and meeting area.