The left side of the building, in place of a giant arch, has a smaller, fully-circular window, in a tube that goes all the way across the building similar to the main arches. That allows the outdoor dining "terrace" (which appears to have been indoor space of some sort before Eataly moved in) to run the full length of the building on this side. This angle gives a nice view of the copper arched roof that makes up much of the visible facade.
In some ways, this building reminds me of the old NASA area Fiesta Mart here in Houston which, when it opened in around 1989, was a 240k sq. ft. supermarket. Yes, you read that right, a 240k supermarket! This is the one that had the indoor hydroponic produce garden and all of that. It was way too much and the store did not last long before it was downsized and then closed, but there are a few similar elements to the design especially when the building was still a Fiesta. Unfortunately, pictures of the building as a Fiesta are basically nonexistent on the Internet, but we do have some photos of it in the backrooms of the Houston retail community which will probably go public at some point, lol. For now, we'll have to settle for a modern photo of the subdivided shopping center: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xTcY73o1G3i895Mj8
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit surprised that the covered walkway next to the street doesn't have some kind of barrier around it preventing people from driving up there, but perhaps that just isn't a big problem in Italy. That Nissan Micra there is pretty neat, I wish they sold those here. Instead, we get the Nissan Kicks which is based on the same platform I think. While the current Kicks is more or less a Versa hatchback, and the EPA even classifies it as a car rather than as a SUV, the new 2025 Kicks modeled after a football helmet will most certainly be an SUV, unfortunately. Who knows if they'll even still sell the Versa sedan!
Even all four stories of this store would have trouble competing with that size! I think the craziest thing there is that it was Fiesta Mart that tried building such a giant store!
DeleteYeah, the really surprising part is that there's no one parked up there! Generally around Italy, people will put their cars (and scooters) anywhere they can physically fit them! There were a bunch of scooters, but no cars, which is pretty unusual for Rome. Maybe since there's already parking along the curb, people didn't feel the need to double park.