Inside a Modern Italian Bookstore

WORDS Amelia Frenkel IMAGES Anna Positano

BRAC bookstore and café in historic Florence gets an inspiring, modern redesign by architecture studio Deferrari+Modesti.

BRAC bookstore and café’s unique formula of a “library with a kitchen” has brought together people with a passion for contemporary art and cuisine since its establishment in 2009.

Comprising a bookstore, café and kitchen, where vegetarian and vegan dishes are prepared, it hosts artists, art critics, curators, photographers, writers, architects and graphic novel authors and holds book presentations, readings and photographic exhibitions.

Architecture studio Deferrari+Modesti, known for offering original experimentation in material and constructive solutions, recently redesigned this quirky hybrid bookstore’s mere 75 square metres.

At the heart of the project is the 65-square-metre courtyard that connects the two main rooms. Conceived as an acoustic solution to reduce noise pollution, this area features more than 5 000 suspended strips of coloured fabric in nine different colours, ranging from 75 to 175 cm in length. The strips are suspended from a light, modular structure made from steel cables permanently fixed in the courtyard walls, which allows for a variety of configurations. A series of blinds made of sound-absorbing technical fabric were placed above the structure, designed to provide another sounds barrier.

The design of the first room includes wainscoting and clutter-reducing wall units to display the books, while the second room is arranged with informal seating used during book presentations, readings and photographic exhibitions. Oak was used for the bookstore’s bookshelves and the tops of the tables that have vintage iron bases. The bamboo flooring warms the space and lends it an air of uniformity. Finally, the entrance was transformed in order to make room for a shop window that’s constantly changing to display new releases and photography acquisitions and a series of interchangeable mobile elements.

Architects Javier Deferrari and Lavinia Modesti said of their interior reinvention: “With our project we wanted to renew the atmosphere without distorting it. The courtyard, the true heart of this place, is where we were able to express our creativity to the fullest.”

Libreria Brac, Via dei Vagellai 18r, Firenze, Italy