Retail & Design
Corner in Roma Termini Station
Inserted into a post-war rationalist landmark, the North Sails Corner reinterprets the station’s strict grid through a deliberate angular rotation to maximise visibility and brand presence.
Roma Termini Station is a monumental work of post-war Italian Rationalism, completed in 1958 from a design by Calini, Montuori and Vitellozzi. The building’s architectural language balances the metaphysical monumentality of its vast lateral arches with the clarity of the International Style, expressed through ribbon windows and the dynamic cantilevered canopy along the main façade. Both plan and section are rigorously composed on an orthogonal grid, reinforcing the station’s rational and structural clarity.
Within this highly defined architectural context, the North Sails Corner has been conceived as a contemporary retail insertion that both respects and reinterprets its surroundings. The project is located inside the Roma Termini Shopping Mall, enjoying strong visual connections with the internal circulation areas and direct visibility from Platform 1, the station’s primary link to airport services and one of its most heavily trafficked zones.
To enhance visibility and reinforce brand identity, the retail layout adopts a deliberately rotated grid of approximately 35 degrees. This exceeds the standard rotation suggested by North Sails retail guidelines and introduces a dynamic contrast with the rigid orthogonal geometry of the host architecture. The angular shift generates visual tension and spatial openness, allowing the corner to stand out while maintaining architectural coherence.
The retail area measures approximately 10 metres in width and 13 metres in depth. Along the long sides, the space is defined by the station’s structural pillars, while the short sides alternate between transparency and openness: a full-height storefront window facing Platform 1 and an open edge toward the department store circulation. This configuration maximises exposure, daylight, and brand visibility, transforming the corner into a clear landmark within the station.
The project represents a strategic step in the expansion of the North Sails retail network, translating the brand’s values into a spatial language that engages with one of Italy’s most significant pieces of modern infrastructure.
