RigonSimonetti restores historic Villa Donà with wooden insertions

RigonSimonetti, a Vicenza-based architecture firm led by Francesco Rigon and Margherita Simonetti, has completed the restoration and renovation of the historic Villa Donà in Vicenza, Italy. The project, named Vis-à-vis, transforms the Venetian villa into offices and a cafe. The design uses the building's historical striations as a guide for new wooden insertions, making the layers of time legible and coherent. The nearly 29,000-square-foot (8,840-square-meter) site comprises a main building, a barchessa (a wing connecting the main building to the road), and a new annex that sandwiches a garden with the barchessa. The barchessa extends 3,000 square feet (926 square meters) and features a facade marked by centuries of modifications, from the 18th to the 19th century. A protruding wooden box suspended over a glass opening at the central arch signals the new intervention.