Italian
A journey through time, between bureaucracy and industrial archaeology, to discover a new face for Murano.
MURANO (VE). It has been a long and uncertain journey that led to the rebirth of the former de Majo factory in Murano. Not just a simple architectural transformation, but a real “journey to Cathay”.
Comparing clients and designers to the Polo brothers, pioneers of commerce and exploration in the 13th century. A parallel that aptly describes the long and arduous journey required to bring back to life an abandoned industrial complex.
La Fornace
The recovery of the former de Majo furnace was a laboratory of administrative and design experimentation. The landscape constraints, the regulatory complexity of the VPRG (Variation to the General Urban Plan), and the typical building stratification of the lagoon industrial archaeology imposed a flexible and “hybrid” approach. H&A Associati was able to move between direct tools (Building Permits, SCIA, DIA) and indirect ones (urban planning variations, derogation titles), shaping each procedural step as an integral part of the project itself.
The turning point? The possibility of reducing the volumes to improve the quality of spaces, introducing courtyards, light wells, and skylights, elements capable of making historic buildings habitable without altering their essence. A virtuous compromise that has allowed to combine the protection of heritage with urban regeneration.
Make the invisible visible
Above all, however, the project has sought to overcome the invisible wall between workplaces and the city. Historically, Murano has turned its furnaces towards the lagoon, keeping these productive spaces closed off from the rest of the island. The regeneration of the former de Majo site breaks this pattern, envisioning public pathways, shared spaces, physical and symbolic openings that give back to the community forgotten pieces of its history.
An intervention that could become a model, also for the adjacent former Rossetto furnace and for the prestigious Palazzo Trevisan, activating a regeneration network that reconnects Murano to its citizens and visitors, with a view to sustainable and participatory enhancement.
A precise restoration, between memory and future
The intervention on the former de Majo furnace has been able to combine respect for the memory of the place and functional innovation, in a reutilization project that has not distorted, but intelligently reinterpreted. The factory buildings, long disused and separated by courtyards and open pathways, have been the subject of meticulous work: structural consolidation, roof refurbishment, installation of vertical connections, recovery of historical floorings, all carried out with attention to the preservation of the industrial “patina.”
The enhancement of the spatial complexity of the site has been of particular importance, maintained and made readable thanks to a layout that has preserved the voids, courtyards, and internal paths, true visual and functional “lungs” of the complex. The selective reduction of volumes, allowed by local regulations, has favored the introduction of courtyards and light wells, improving health and habitability conditions without altering the architectural identity.
The final destination, for tourist-receptive use, has found space within a container that remains faithful to its productive origin, but now opens up to the city with new functions, reconnecting the historical fabric of Murano. The result is an operation that restores vitality to a site of industrial archaeology, transforming it into a place of meeting and exchange, in continuity with its past, but projected into the future.
Designing the process
The case of de Majo demonstrates how important it is to “design the process” as much as the building itself. The success of a project depends not only on aesthetics or construction quality, but also on the ability to navigate the sea of bureaucracy, choosing the right tools and building alliances with institutions.
Ultimately, as Marco Polo and Calvino teach us, the real challenge is to recognize, in the midst of hell, “who and what is not hell, and make it last, and give it space.” Because inhabiting complexity does not mean enduring it, but rather seeking, every day, to transform it into an opportunity.
Source: “From saying to hosting”, H&A Associati
