Vetrina negozio con varietà di piante e grandi lampadine

Prologue

“I could have sworn to feel one with the trees around me, I imagined the scene from afar, while I see my bare feet resting on the ground, one after the other, feeling the sound of the leaves entering and leaving so quickly from my ears. Nature always resounds, even in its grotesque silence, it abandons us and enters it again, again and again.

Green wraps me around and grows bigger in the lenses of my glasses. I am eager to go on, walk to the river, hoping to get there before night, before the sky above my head turns completely blue. I need to fill my eyes with all the shades of the colors of the leaves, to feel them flow in my hands, all so different and so equal, but always so alive in the rainy season in summer.

And while I make my way, insinuating myself into the denser, shy wood, like a tightrope walker, the trunks on the left and then those immediately on the right, but the green becomes thicker and tries to swallow me. And so I decide to let myself be overwhelmed; I drop onto the ground and start filling my eyes with every nuance around me. The images and sensations continue to flow even when my eyelids drop on the eyes and I no longer realize how much time has passed because the rhythm, here in the forest, flows differently.

I feel that the light is changing this little world that I had just created, and I don’t even have time to enjoy it, that my eyes reopen: I see the leaves that begin to darken and I lose sight of the point where they fade into the blue sky of the night.”

Showcase with variety of plants

Plant forest – Variety of plants inside the shop

Projects always arise from a story, which we imagine for them, because space is always narration and suggestion. The story we imagined for the Bluenergy company, which operates in the electricity and methane supply market, is made up of many shades of green and led us to create a small urban forest in a city center.

View from inside the shop towards the Verdi theater in Trieste

View from the inside – From the window you can see the Theater Verdi in Trieste

The request

The company wanted to bring its new store back to the city center of Trieste, after being absent for a few years. The location found space inside the Tergesteo Palace, the historical and central place of Trieste, built in the mid-nineteenth century. The collected and square-shaped space overlooks the Verdi theater, a stone’s throw from Piazza Unità d’Italia.

External view of the shop with two large arched windows

Vista esterna giorno – Vista esterna dello store, all’interno del Palazzo Tergesteo

The new store was to be in continuity with those already built in the rest of Italy, in line with corporate values ​​but also more recognizable and original. A multifunctional place where you can ask for assistance but also inquire about services.

Reception counter inside the shop with wall display products

Reception – Reception desk inside the shop with product display wall

The firm

“Architecture should take inspiration from the plant world, not because it is fashionable, but because plants have five million years of history and adaptation to the climate.”
Mario Cucinella

The primary source of inspiration for beauty is nature, which frees creativity and stimulates perception and movement. In this corner of the city, devoid of greenery, we wanted to bring a small forest, with many different species of plants.

An atmosphere to be experienced inside the shop but also outside, where the plants are visible through the windows 24 hours a day, with a system of lights that makes the shop live even at night; because the technological networks are always on the move, imitating plant life that never stops.

Exterior night view of the shop

External night view – External view of the shop on the opening night

Plants are like sensors, they do not move, but they need to perceive and respond to stimuli through their living cells: they generate electrical signals when stimulated, which does not happen when they are at rest.

We wanted to create a forest, which simulates the electricity grid: this is because in the forests plants share nutrients with each other and act like a large network where larger trees share nutrients with smaller trees that do not have access to light.

The plants used

The forest is composed of heterogeneous vegetation that grows and spreads spontaneously. Similarly, even our small urban forest is made up of different plants that reinforce the concept of biodiversity. We alternated between green Ficus Benjamin, native to the tropical areas of Africa and Asia with Ficus Ali, more varied plants, with a hanging habit and rich in elongated and pointed leaves.

Historical herbarium describing plant species, placed on a dedicated display inside the shop

Display – Historical herbarium describing plant species, placed on a dedicated display inside the shop

From Africa to Madagascar the step is short: the Dracaena is in fact appreciated above all for the decorative value of its leaves and not for the flowering. To have white flowers we have included Spatiphillum, originating from tropical climates which harmonizes perfectly with the shape of its leaves so elongated to previous plants.

Among the various plant species, a detail of the leaves of the Schefflera

Dettaglio piante – Tra le varie specie vegetali, un dettaglio delle foglie della Schefflera

We completed our small forest with the elegant Schefflera, which in addition to decorating the environment, purifies it thanks to its quality of absorbing some of the toxins present in the air such as, for example, benzene, formaldehyde and toluene.

A pleasant habitat

Therefore, real communities are created which represent the primordial concept of network, a concept that we copied to organize our personal and working lives.
But we also chose the plants because they represent a biological and non-mechanical filter for indoor air: the plant takes the internal air and filters it, making it clean again in the environment.

So we can create a pleasant habitat that can improve the balance of our body.

Among the various plant species, a detail of the leaves of the Schefflera

Waiting room – Waiting room with seats and children’s area

This is why we filled the interior of the shop with plants: the waiting room has the green forest in the background, so that customers seem to be sitting in the middle of the outdoors. We wanted to work on this very important suggestion: nature is regenerating and improves our balance.

Spheres hanging from the ceiling that harmonize with the transparent bulbs of the lighting

Spheres – Spheres hanging from the ceiling that harmonize with the transparent bulbs of the lighting

We must not underestimate its effect, because, as neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso says, “we are built to respond positively to the natural environments that we perceive as favorable to our survival”.

Partner: Della Valentina Office, Gierre sedute, Vivai d’andreis