Presentation of interior design studio projects

The KSU Florence Interior Design Studio fosters an interdisciplinary approach and aims at promoting critical thinking on the disciplines and activities that shape our environment. In particular, it provides an understanding of the Italian and European approach to interior and architectural design in comparison with the American one, together with the discovery and exploration of Italian and European urban environments and designs in historical contexts.

In Fall 2019, the Interior Design studio led by professor Federico Grazzini dealt with one of the most important sites and projects of contemporary Florence. The students were asked to conceive a new exit for the Uffizi Gallery towards Piazza del Grano and a new design for the square itself, set to become an important gathering place in the historical city centre. The design for a new exit for the Uffizi Gallery is a long-time necessity for the city of Florence and for the museum itself, one of the most visited cultural institutions in Europe and the world.

The main Interior design project for the 2020 Spring semester was dealing with the adaptation of a historic Florentine Palace, Palazzo Spini-Feroni, into a Museum for the Visual Arts. The Palazzo is a very grand prototype of medieval architecture and was the seat of the City Council in the decade when Florence was capital of Italy. Professors Fabio Barluzzi and Federico Grazzini guided the students in a careful historical analysis of the building. This was the premise to the project: students were asked to define the collection of the museum and then conceive the spaces around the selected artworks. This put the young designers in the special and interesting condition to be both the curator and the designer of their own museum.