AD liberty house and showroom
Approaching the Italian city of Treviso from the south, along the ancient Terraglio route, one encounters a remarkable neoclassical villa on the right, just past the parish of San Lazzaro.
Built at the beginning of the 20th century, with notable Art Nouveau influences, the villa sits on a corner lot. Adjacent to it, along a secondary road, stands a new concrete building distinguished by its clean geometry and refined proportions. These two structures, now united under a single program, are the protagonists of the AD Showroom project, the result of a collaboration between two Treviso-based architecture firms: GALEOTTI/RIZZATO ARCHITETTI and mzc+.
The construction lasted approximately two years, with the architects working on two fronts from the outset: restoring the villa and constructing the new building. The villa’s restoration, involving a three-story main building and a single-story annex, was driven by conservation needs. Over time, the structure underwent multiple functional transformations and experienced long periods of neglect.
The new interior design enhances its domestic character through subtle yet meaningful interventions, such as a steel staircase that improves circulation. The journey through the villa extends outdoors, unfolding in a sequence of plants, trees, and pathways that lead to the annex’s terrace and, ultimately, the new structure. The villa’s carefully executed restoration plays a key role in shaping its new identity. The chosen façade color, akin to that of concrete, creates a contextual reading of the building while also neutralizing its original residential function, establishing a visual dialogue with the new volume.
The architects’ decision to integrate the existing with a decidedly contemporary intervention makes the showroom’s design stand out, adding approximately 300 square meters of usable space, complete with a recognizable entrance and a display area directly accessible from the street. In the project by GALEOTTI/RIZZATO ARCHITETTI and mzc+, while the villa retains the centrality bestowed by its original layout, the new volume emerges as a counterpoint, visible from all key perspectives. The showroom asserts itself as an autonomous object, though physically and functionally connected via a discreet, pre-existing structure, which was also restored. This connection ensures continuity along the visitor’s path and establishes a spatial and temporal transition between the two architectures.
The new structure responds to the villa with rigorous, essential forms. Built on two levels with a sandblasted concrete structure and expansive glass surfaces framed in wood, it recalls the aesthetics of industrial production and suggests a modular construction system. The use of concrete extends indoors, where a prominent central spine wall serves as a backdrop for the display areas, contrasting with the precision of the plastered surrounding walls. The composition of the openings, particularly the ground-floor corner window, highlighted by a slender canopy, introduces design elements typical of residential architecture. These windows, while functioning as showcases for the interior furnishings, also frame views of notable architectural landmarks: the old church of San Lazzaro with its bell tower and the new concrete parish church, designed by architects Bandiera and Facchini in the late 1970s.
This new volume is enriched by understated yet precise compositional choices and a façade design that, through elements such as string courses and an upper cornice, subtly echoes the villa’s profile. On its flat roof, photovoltaic panels ensure energy self-sufficiency. From the ground floor, a slightly recessed patio on the east side of the showroom allows for an outdoor display of furnishings. The patio is accessed via steel steps that extend the nearby concrete staircases. This and other refined design strategies elaborate on the industrial theme, enriching it with a minimal yet carefully curated palette of details, strengthening the dialogue between the villa and the new architecture—between historical continuity and contemporary reinterpretation.
The new AD Showroom is the result of an intense, collaborative dialogue between the architects, the clients, and the local Superintendency for Cultural Heritage. The project by GALEOTTI/RIZZATO ARCHITETTI and mzc+, which leverages local craftsmanship and construction techniques, reflects a deep-rooted architectural tradition and a thoughtful approach to engaging with history.
