Customized parking garage completes shopping center makeover F E A T U R E S T O R Y n the island of Sardinia, Italy, in the heart of Cagliari, tourists and locals alike are subject to anything one could ever want in a vacation or life of leisure: history, art, views of the Mediterranean, fine cuisine, and of course, shopping. While highlights of the city include 13th-century architecture, La Plaia – Centro Commerciale, a prominent shopping center in the middle of town, was seeking res- toration to update and modernize, after not having any renovations since the shopping center was built in 1983. To kick off the nearly two-year construction project, which began in 2016, the eponymous architec- tural firm Mario Dal Molin and general contractor SIGEF SRL set out to renovate and expand the shopping center by 13,993 sq. ft. (1,300 square meters). The goal behind the changes would be to offer customers a vaster selection of retail options, and provide the community with areas for social- ization, such as a new on-site bar. In addition to the interior shop- ping center updates, 64,583 sq. ft. (6,000 square meters) of parking garage space would need to be reconstructed since the concrete screed in place had been com- n the island of Sardinia, Italy, in the heart of Cagliari, tourists and locals alike are subject to anything O 38 TileLetter | March 2019