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When architect Peter Marino was tasked with renovating the Bulgari flagship on New York's Fifth Avenue, he looked to the luxury jewelry brand's Roman roots. Occupying a corner spot in the iconic Crown Building (designed in 1921 by the same architects who completed Grand Central Terminal), the store's new criss-crossed and rosette-studded façade is a standout on the street, but the marble-trimmed, glass-encased entrance is familiar—a replica of the brand's flagship in Rome. "Symbolically, it's a way to enter into the Bulgari world," said Silvia Schwarzer, the brand's chief architect. "So, we wanted to give that to the city of New York, but also have some elements specially designed by Peter for the New York store."
Inside, Marino has mixed Italian design tradition with American innovation. Hand-placed marble and glass tesserae make up the sparkling white floor under jewelry cases inspired by Carlo Scarpa's Delfi Table (which was itself inspired by a Marcel Breuer design). Special collection cases sit on marble-topped tables by Osvaldo Borsani and Angelo Mangiarotti, and massive Carrera half-columns rise along the perimeter of the store. Two grand Gio Ponti chandeliers (c. 1960), bought by Bulgari from the ballroom of the Hotel Parco dei Principi in Rome, light the double-height space from above. "These are pieces of Italian design from the Dolce Vita in Rome," said Schwarzer of Marino's midcentury curation. "The mix is important because we always go back to our roots." AD caught up with the architect himself, known often for his use of luxurious materials and fantastical retail spaces, to discuss designing within a visual heritage, the greats of Italian midcentury design, and the golden sunlight of Rome.
AD: How do you approach the design of a project with such a strong brand heritage? How does the project speak to both the brand and your style as a designer?
Peter Marino: I wanted the New York store to express the Bulgari identity with strong Roman references and Roman ideas of color and form. When I think about the identity of Bulgari, I think about the southern Italian sun. I wanted to reflect this in the gold and apricot that you see in the afternoon in Rome. It is expressed in all of the textiles, furniture, walls. Bulgari is also very much a contemporary company and jeweler with a tandem view of looking back and supporting modern design at the same time.
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AD: How does Italian design heritage influence the store’s design and the furniture chosen? In this case, why was the midcentury Italian era of design so influential?
PM: It relates to the Bulgari identity. I wanted to introduce elements of Italian architectural modernism into the store as the mid-20th century was a period of Italian history that was very central to Bulgari’s success in high-fashion jewelry. It was a time when Rome with its local movie industry was a chic attraction for Hollywood’s stars such as Liz Taylor and Ava Gardner. Taylor was perhaps Bulgari’s most famous customer at that time.
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AD: How does the new store marry American and Roman design, in concept and in physical materials?
PM: I liked the idea of something quintessentially Roman as an architectural definition. If you look at the stair, you can see a baroque method of laying stones, a very Italian process, and the stones Pavonazzetto, Breccia di Stazzema, Red Porphyry, Bois Jordan, Botticino are sourced from the Alps in Italy, as it was for ancient Rome.
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AD: What sets the New York store apart from that of the other Bulgari stores you worked on in Rome and London?
PM: New York is a younger and more modern city than either Rome or London. For both Rome and London, the exterior was landmarked, or listed as you call it—naturally, as an architect, I’d like to think that I could improve an exterior, but to work within the limits and constraints of a landmarked building is its own architectural challenge, and the process has its own associated qualities of respecting a city's heritage. Working in New York there was more freedom to develop the face of the brand, inside and out. The interior is more open, with a double height ceiling comprising the majority of the ground level that we created along with a private sales mezzanine in the rear of the "colonnade."
