The Fondaco's current role as a post office has diminished in tandem with the native population of Venice: an annual decline of 1.2 percent mirrors the gradual emptying out of the building. Today, it is largely unused for the first time in centuries. The latest evolution of the Fondaco will reactivate the building a thriving contemporary trading post, in the form of a modern department store. In tandem with the department store, the renovation will create three major areas of commerce-free public space.

The rooftop will be adapted and made accessible, leaving the building's profile intact while unlocking potential for the Fondaco dei Tedeschi as a major destination and vantage point for tourists and Venetians alike, with rare views of the Grand Canal and Venice's stunningly dense roofscape.

The gallerias, which will remain untouched, will form a public promenade.

The courtyard will become a major public hub. As well as new entrances to the building from Campo San Bartolomeo and the Rialto, existing shortcuts through the courtyard, used by locals, will be retained. The escalator reaching from the courtyard to the gallerias can be lifted up, freeing the courtyard for a program of public events as part of cultural masterplan: film screenings, performances, meetings.

Inside the building, 75% of the Fondaco's structure will remain untouched. Occasional interventions in the 1930s structures will consolidate rooms into larger spaces while crucial historic elements like the corner rooms will be preserved. Some uses of the building, lost for centuries, will be resurrected: the walls of the gallerias will once again become a surface for frescoes, reappearing in a contemporary form.

Department stores have historically been incubators for the arts, collaborating with graphic designers, fashion designers, musicians and artists in a very public venue. With the Cultural Masterplan for the Fondaco, our ambition is to resurrect this relationship between art and commerce - a classically Venetian mixture.

OMA's renovation scheme - composed both of architecture and public programming - continues the Fondaco dei Tedeschi's tradition of vitality and adaptation. Venice will acquire a landmark that will become a shared civic facility and a crucial element in the cultural fabric of the city.