Beauty attracts beauty, and the world’s most beautiful hotels choose L’Officina dei Giardini. The work we present today is a work in progress that we want to share from start to finish, telling the story of how dreams take shape and projects come to fruition. For the delight of the client, the pleasure of their guests, and our own professional satisfaction.
We are at the Four Seasons in Florence, a beautifully restored 15th-century Medici palace, which took 9th spot in the first edition of The World’s 50 Best Hotels, which is compiled by the British monthly Restaurant, a publication that also ranks the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Bars.
L’Officina dei Giardini has also executed projects for two other ranked hotels, including the 2023 winner, the Passalacqua Hotel on the shores of Lake Como, and Le Sireneuse in Positano, ranked 20th (see here for details).
The project entrusted to us by the Four Seasons has been a truly rewarding one. The city’s largest private garden offers endless ideas and inspiration and is a space that deserves a masterpiece within a masterpiece. This historic venue, consisting of Palazzo della Gherardesca and the villa, a former 16th-century convent, is a treasure trove of frescoes and works of art that only glass can exalt in total freedom and elegance.
But we will reveal the details little by little…
The core of our work began with the most impressive structure we designed for the Four Seasons. The client requested two matching conservatories overlooking the hotel’s courtyard that would transform its geometry and enhance the depth of its interior spaces.
These two conservatories feature a self-supporting, curved structure made of thermal-break steel. The wall is divided into seven segments composed of as many steel and glass frames with fixed transom windows. The opaque, multi-pitched roof rests on the primary metal support structure and is made of a high-performance technical laminate. The slight inclination of the pitches allows rainwater to be collected in a perimeter gutter, which is conveyed by downspouts in amounts suited to the roof surface.
The two conservatories are to be used for breakfast and dining, giving the hotel new spaces that fully lives up to the Four Seasons name—conservatories capable of offering maximum comfort in any outdoor temperature, whether its shelter from the summer heat or warmth in the winter cold, the scent of flowers in spring or the poetry of autumn foliage.
The journey from the project rendering to the final result passed through the efforts of our skilled artisans. Right from the assembly phase, you can already see the curved structures and the new environments that are being created.
Follow along as we create this masterpiece!
Photos by @emanuele_basile
The closing months of the year mark the beginning of the most beautiful season for conservatories. At the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Florence, preparations are underway for the upcoming inauguration of the twin conservatories created by L’Officina dei Giardini.
As assembly of these modern conservatories continues, let’s take a look inside the Four Seasons. In addition to construction of the entryway, L’Officina dei Giardini has been engaged in an exceptional project alongside Paola Caterina Grua’s Vitràge Torino.
The Four Seasons also wanted a ceiling for a room used for show cooking. The hotel’s idea was to have a mosaic of colored and frosted glass, but we won the client over with a counterproposal… A 4-square-meter ceiling, hand-painted by Paola Grua, kiln-fired, and set in leaded panels, perfectly mounted within the metal framework created by us using frames anchored to the ceiling.
The client approved enthusiastically, understanding how an absolutely original ceiling could be born out of that initial sketch. Want to see more details of this masterpiece? Read this dedicated article.
The greatest satisfaction in delivering a project is the happiness of the client and the certainty that our work will live on for a long, long time. Now that the interior furnishings are complete, the Four Seasons in Florence can open one of the most spectacular winter gardens in the world to its guests.
The images speak for themselves, and L’Officina dei Giardini is proud of all the work we have done, from design to implementation and through to the long-awaited inauguration.
