The project by TA Torsello Architettura | Alberto Torsello, Studio SERES and team forms part of the broader programme for the development and strengthening of the activities of La Biennale di Venezia, comprising 22 works involving buildings and areas owned by the Municipality of Venice and located in the Giardini della Biennale, at the Arsenale, on the Lido di Venezia, at Forte Marghera and in Parco Albanese (Bissuola).
The project included the recovery, conservative restoration, and enhancement of five historic buildings merged into a single complex, part of the southern Arsenale, extending for over 200 meters parallel to the Corderie.
Multifunctional areas are planned, dedicated to consultation, College activities and research, workshops, exhibitions, and the production of special projects, as well as spaces for storage, cataloguing, and conservation. In particular, the conservation area will house multi-level compact shelving systems, restoration laboratories, cataloguing rooms, and climate-controlled storage units capable of ensuring appropriate temperature and humidity conditions for the protection of the archival heritage. The project also includes the enhancement of the digitisation of the collections — audio, video, and photographic archives — and the expansion of storage capacity, reaching approximately 8,000 linear metres compared to the current 5,000 at the VEGA site in Marghera.
New Historical Archive – International Centre for Research on Contemporary Arts at the Arsenale. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.
Project description by TA Torsello Architettura | Alberto Torsello
The project involves the recovery, conservative restoration and enhancement of a group of historic buildings within the Arsenale Sud complex in Venice, known as the Officine e Magazzini del Ferro. Extending for over 200 metres parallel to the Corderie building, these spaces will be used for consultation and conservation activities related to the archival holdings of the Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts of La Biennale di Venezia.
The intervention consists of a single lot, comprising five interconnected historic buildings; this lot is divided into two operational phases, corresponding to different funding sources.
Within the Magazzini del Ferro, the project foresees the creation of spaces open to the public for the on-site paper-based and multimedia consultation of the Archive’s holdings. These areas will be dedicated to research through a new integrated infrastructure designed for innovative, multimedia, multichannel and flexible access to the contents of the Archive of La Biennale. The spaces will also include multifunctional areas and areas dedicated to College activities, staff offices and a new restaurant.
The Congegnatori e Aggiustatori building, ninety metres long, will house spaces dedicated to the conservation, enhancement and inventorying of the Archive’s holdings through multi-level compact shelving systems, together with equipped areas for restoration laboratories and activities preparatory to the cataloguing of the archival heritage. The project includes the adaptation of all rooms in order to ensure the proper conservation of the documentary heritage, through the construction of climate-controlled units capable of guaranteeing ideal temperature and humidity conditions.
