A Century-Old Roman Palazzo Grows a Faceted Glass-and-Steel Parasite

We ’ve talked about top - down demolition — where edifice are deconstruct one floor at a time , ending at the ground — before . But a new - completed building in Rome , by Italian studioFuksas , puts a twist on the conception : The old building ’s frontage was perfectly preserved .

The Palazzo ex Unione Militare was built in 1901 and once domiciliate the Italian military headquarters . Eventually , the edifice was sold for retail space — and in 2008 , a massive restoration projection got underway . Because of its historical importance , Fuksas could n’t meet the Palazzo ’s facade ; Instead , the firm gutted the interior completely , from roof to basement ( chink out the great demolition telecasting below ) . After clearing out nearly 1,000 tons of dust , they built an entirely novel blade construction inside , enclose with a gauzy steel - and - glass facade that enclose around the new building and sprout from the cap .

The labor terminate up taking five years and $ 220 million to fill out — and sadly , it seems destined to contain an H&M or Benetton . In fact , that ’s usually the case with projects like this , since the only clients who can afford such a painstaking structure process are doing it for a very good financial reasonableness — for reference , see theHearst Tower , here in New York . [ Images by Gianni Basso viaDesignBoom ]