This bookshop, in an office building clad with pink Baveno granite and commissioned by the publishers Gianni and Ulrico Hoepli, is entirely given over to books, with its 43-metre linear windows giving the shop an air of transparency.
The furnishings work on three elements: the window showcases, with revolving backs that can alter the direction of display; the counters, organised in cubic elements that can stand alone or be combined; and the shelves, running lengthwise and doubled up in the gallery, set at the height of a person with their arm raised.
The floor is white Alzo granite; the counters, display units and stairs are in African walnut.
The lighting design conceals the light sources in the profile of the beams for an even and indirect diffusion of artificial light.
Originally published in Domus 367 / June 1960
A large bookshop in Milan
The new premises of Libreria Hoepli, one of Europe’s largest bookshops, develop over 583 square metres (403 on standard floors plus 180 on the gallery level).
The design is resolved with great conceptual clarity on the basis of two functions: attraction on the outside and order on the inside.
The outer walls are entirely glazed and the imposing alignment of books is a spectacle in itself: 1,000 volumes are simultaneously displayed in the 43-metre-long windows and the vertical backs of the showcases revolve like stage sets and open onto an internal view of the counters and book shelves (in a visual invitation).
Thus the value of light receives special attention in the interior: the various windows provide almost uniform illumination, even by day and in the innermost depths, even beneath the gallery. The shop has no “dark rear” . Instead, two windows “perforate” the back wall to reveal a green screen, a lattice brick wall covered by a climbing plant that conveys the pleasing sense of exterior without the actual view (a courtyard and a skylight well).
The creation of an isolated “back end” is also avoided in plan by moving the lifts and stairs to a corner.
The shop’s whole interior design is dictated by the three ways in which books are presented: display units, counters and shelves.
The insertion of the gallery gives the shelves the desired maximum longitudinal development, as well as the perfect height, that of a person with their arm raised. The counters are designed as cubic units, freestanding or combined. The remarkable display units in the windows have revolving backs that allow more dynamic display possibilities.
For this project, the architects could draw on the technical assistance of the clients themselves, brothers Gianni and Ulrico Hoepli. The engineer Gino Rimini resolved the lighting issues (in part, indirect oblique lighting with the sources concealed in the profile of the beams).
Inside, the shop floor is speckled white Alzo granite, with pale-grey walls and white ceilings; windows, stairs and counters are African walnut. The outer walls are flat crystal (225 square metres of glass) with frames in Alser extruded aluminium. The external pillars are pink Baveno granite.
Other significant buildings by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini:
Stacked villa building, 1933-1944, Via dell’Annunciata 23/1
Manusardi Chapel, 1940-1941, Cimitero Monumentale, reparto 9 spazio 315
Residential complex in Via Circo, 1956, Via Circo 1, on the corner of Via Medici
Residential building and hotel (with C. Blasi), 1961-1963, Largo Augusto, on the corner of Corso di Porta Vittoria; Via Francesco Sforza 2/4
Building in Via Mazzini, 1963-1967, Via Mazzini 12, on the corner of Via Falcone 3
Church of St. John and St. Paul, 1964, Via Privata Catone 10