The Number 6, formerly known as Valperga Galleani Palace in the heart of Turin, reopened during the week after two years of recovery and re-functionalization of the spaces: an architectural project conceived by the building engineering and built by Building SpA between 2011 and 2012, conceived to restore to the city the charm and uniqueness of a Turin Baroque palace a stone's throw from Piazza San Carlo, restoring it to its original splendor and reinforcing its intrinsic vocation as a prestigious residence and noble "income building".
Despite the construction crisis, therefore, there is one sector that is still functioning: that of luxury construction. So here is a work on 6.500 square meters of surface (over 5 floors plus two mezzanines), 36 apartments with 36 garages underground, a modern one Beauty & SPA for use by condominiums and a Tecnogym gym, a unique artistic project in Italy curated by Richi Ferrero – extraordinary all-round artist and master of light installations – where art merges with architecture and nature. There were three main phases of the project: construction of 6 underground garage floors, reorganization of the internal facades and recovery of the courtyard space, restoration of the stately spaces on the noble floor.
With this intervention Piero Boffa, managing director of Building SpA, has set itself the goal of giving a new face to the luxury residential sector, believing in the potential of the city to transform the historic area into a "meeting center" and a beating heart to live in, as well as to be experienced as a hub of activities and events . “An ambitious project – says Piero Boffa – not only for the Building, but for the entire city in a phase of reconversion of the urban fabric of the historic center of Turin, which until a few years ago was mainly used for banks and offices and which today is freeing up precious living spaces giving thus the possibility for citizens to return to fully experience it. Our goal is to restore beauty, comfort and avant-garde to the places where we live. "
The first refurbishment operation of the historic building in via Alfieri 6 fits into this context, which will be followed by two similar projects, again under the supervision of the Superintendence for Architectural and Landscape Heritage of Piedmont: in 2013 the former headquarters of the via Lagrange 12 and in 2014 the intervention in Via delle Orfane at the corner of Via Santa Chiara.
The recovery is intended not simply as a re-adaptation of the spaces to the new needs of customers, but as the creation of environments in which the space is perceived to be experienced in a unique and exclusive dimension. Thinking about a new meaning of the concept of “luxury apartment”, surrounded by technology that simplifies life, inserted in a context on a human scale, breathing the atmosphere that only a historic building can give, dedicating oneself to well-being, satisfying one's mood, enjoying the art which is an integral part of architectural projects.
The Palazzo has returned to its essential forms, embellished with luxury systems, infrastructures and finishes, improving functionality, without compromising its original historic appearance. To bring comfort to the highest levels, increase safety and reduce management costs by increasing energy efficiency, the Palace has been equipped with the most modern home automation technology: distribution of water, electricity, TV signal, heating and air conditioning, security, spa reservations are totally managed through the internal computer communication network.
Great importance has also covered the restoration operation, conducted by a team of restorers, coordinated by Barbara Rinetti, of the environments protected by the Superintendency of Architectural and Cultural Heritage of Piedmont, such as the stately entrance with its decorated vaults, the main floor with stuccos and frescoes, the lower atrium, the monumental staircase of the building and the facades facing via XX Settembre and via Alfieri.
A unique project for Turin and for Italy where art is the undisputed protagonist and is an integral part of the recovery plan of Palazzo Valperga Galleani. The task of creating this corpus of works of art ad hoc for "The Number 6" and enjoyable by all, was entrusted to Rich Ferrero. The artistic invention stems from the desire to reinterpret the presence of the original Baroque garden as a reference to the 'dream space', a moment of refined and rigorous decoration of the common space. The original place does not exist and can no longer exist, but its memory is reborn today in the verticality that rises from the courtyard to the roofs to live as a garden-quote suspended in the air.
The artist has created a series of permanent light installations which include the 'Vertical Garden', the 'Baroque Garden', 'As if Turin had the sea' and 'La Maschera'. In the courtyard, the intervention has 748 light bars in resin and 300 meters of lighted ribbon with bluish gray pebbles and warmer sand-coloured pebbles that combine with carefully mixed light colours. Above them rises a tree 6 meters high and suspended in the air between the first and third floors: 520 kg of galvanized iron make up the trunk and the arm that supports it. Each branch has a light and each light changes color. The 13 main branches are made with 590 kg of stainless steel pipes, with 78 luminous tips powered by 180 ballasts. As daylight fades, the tree illuminates the courtyard redesigned with luminous pebbles.
The garden rises along the walls, mentioned in the 82 aromatic planters illuminated by 246 warm and cold light LEDs and suspended from the long balconies, in turn enriched by 230 meters of mini-flux of warm light. At the top, the garden opens into the magnificence of the floral hangings in dialogue with the sky.
An artistic project realized thanks to the important contribution of the natural element where architecture, art and nature merge with over 70 species of plants, 210 planters, 26 cubic meters of soil, 1.000 meters of irrigation pipes. Thus the agronomist and landscape architect Flavio Pollano in collaboration with the architect Alessandro Amici, created the green works of Palazzo Valperga Galleani.
