The Biblioteca Laudense (Lodi Library), which stands in the center of the city, houses within its walls the beautiful Biblioteca dei Filippini. The architectural intervention, curated by Angelo Micheli of the aMDL studio and for which PAOLO CASTELLI realized all the furnishings for the ground floor and first floor, is intended to valorize the complex as a whole while redesigning its functions, respecting its original architectural character and responding delicately and creatively to the restrictions dictated by the age and historical significance of the building.The Biblioteca Laudense is one of the city’s architectural gems, a monument of both cultural and social importance, insofar as it serves as a meeting place for citizens of every generation.
The restoration project made it possible to assign new functions to parts of the building in order to provide more complete service to visitors while combining culture with entertainment.The Biblioteca dei Filippini is realized entirely in wood, and the preciousness of its furnishings is found in the extreme simplicity and functionality with which they fulfill their purpose of storing and displaying books. The project starts from this room and then goes on to influence the entire intervention. The display of books extends into the Sala dei Notai, whose split-level boiserie, also in wood and metal, hosts the volumes of the 19th-century collection.The same applies to the wide, book-lined hallways that connect the various reading room, which are also outfitted with bookshelves.The reading tables and chairs are in oak, the wood that characterizes the entire project and a favorite material of the architect.
The new area dedicated to children shares the same characteristics, though in this case color is introduced into parts of the fixed furnishings and various mobile elements like chairs and desks in order to accentuate the vivacity of the young guests.The tables in this area are again in oak and each holds a ream of paper, always ready to accommodate their creativity. All the furnishings on the ground floor and first floor were realized by PAOLO CASTELLI.
Challenges: The almost sacred status of the site, important for what it represents for the city and its history, as witnessed by the still well preserved furnishings of the Biblioteca dei Filippini, was at once the obstacle and the opportunity in realizing, with maximum care, the furnishing project of the aMDL Studio, well aware of the necessary standards of perfection that would harmonize it with such an important context.