Architect Massimiliano Locatelli found the perfect spot to relocate his firm – 16th Century church. With frescos adorning the ceilings, a crypt and religious paintings throughout, transforming this interior into a modern office was no easy task.
Although San Paolo Converso in Milan was damaged by Napoleon and the convent buildings were bombed during World War II, Locatelli says he can still “feel the spirit of the church”. Now completely renovated, architects work in offices enclosed by plexiglass within the nuns’ choir area. The dining area is in the convent’s former crypt- quite a place to eat your lunch daily. The large crucifix is now obscured by a steel structural object in order to signify that this isn’t a religious place anymore. Yet with all this modernization, the essence of San Paolo Converso remains intact.
What a place to call your “work home”! Read more about this amazing space here.
The “Adoration of the Shepherds” by Antonio Campi over the Church’s main altar; above that hovers the conference room, as if suspended in place.
Image courtesy of: Wall Street Journal Magazine, photographed by Francois Halard
Curators now present exhibitions in the front of the church, the space where the congregants previously gathered.
Image courtesy of: The Wall Street Journal Magazine, photograph courtesy of: Francois Halard
Offices form a free-standing “house within a house” with steel elements that modernize the space.
Image courtesy of: The Wall Street Journal, photographed by: Francois Halard
