Architects: AACM – Atelier Architettura Chinello Morandi
Area: 925 m²
Year: 2022
Architecture Team: Nicolò Chinello, Rodolfo Morandi
Project Team: Paolo Osti, Andrea Marchesin
Landscape Design: Leonardo Marzotti
Lighting Design: Federica Tebaldi
Works Supervisor: Marisa Macchietto
Photographs: Andrea Anoni, Alberto Sinigaglia, Catalogo
City: Padua
Country: Italy
Exforo restaurant, designed by AACM – Atelier Architettura Chinello Morandi in Padua, adapts the historic Ex Foro Boario into a contemporary dining space. The project creates a dialogue between heritage preservation and modern use, aligning early 20th-century architecture with present-day functions and culinary culture.
As architects, we draw inspiration from the environment, the atmosphere, and archetypal materials and forms that are closely tied to the local context. Our vision is rooted in a curiosity to explore space and to create spaces that invite exploration.
Interview with Rodolfo Morandi and Nicolò Chinello of AACM
Exforo restaurant is set within Padua’s Ex Foro Boario, a building from the early 1900s facing Prato della Valle. The renovation reestablishes panoramic views of the city through expansive terraces and openings that had been closed over time.
The intervention combines public use with the rehabilitation of a heritage structure, linking Italian culinary tradition with a contemporary program. The design reconciles the monumental qualities of the listed building with modern functional requirements through three primary elements.
The central bar forms the core of the space and is conceived as a translucent, luminous volume reminiscent of ice. Knurled glass clads raw steel rims, revealing patterns of the original brick and expressing the wall’s historical layers.
A stereotomic envelope made of polished concrete with local aggregates defines the interior continuity. Beginning at the floor and rising into the walls, this surface frames the windows facing the square and becomes seating, pedestals, planters, and counters.
Furniture in glass, polycarbonate, and resin introduces reflection and transparency, creating contrasts between container and content. This approach transforms the historic structure into a contemporary venue while preserving its architectural significance.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Prato della Valle, 70/a, 35123 Padova PD, Italy
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
