Ex Lanificio Luciani
In Rome, inside the Ex Lanificio Luciani (former Luciani woolen mill) on Via di Pietralata, new productive and artistic realities are emerging which are changing the internal appearance of this property by transforming its use.
Within one of the buildings is the firm of StudioKami Architecture & Engineering, a space that, at its best, represents a teamwork approach to architectural design. The office is located in a loft of the former mill, an ideal setting for the creative process. The result is an expanded spatial experience and an explosion of luminosity. From the grey cement corridors of an unused factory you enter into another world of natural light and air. The adjacent Aniene park and its river, which constitute a natural protected area, take part in becoming main characters in our office/loft, and the play of contrasts between the typical factory elements (respectfully preserved) and the necessary renovations expands and lightens the space. The essential importance of context speaks to a true and fitting work of preservation renewal, in line with the design philosophy of the studio that makes the surrounding natural and artificial environment its own creative stimulus. Changes proportions, platforms and railings create various environments within a single space and are used in order to define the different purposes specifically contemplated for an architectural firm (meeting rooms, model rooms, workstations for staff, private offices) all without ever losing the awareness of an encounter with the reality of an industrial past. The layout was developed on a horizontal plane leaving the eye free to scan the space. The spatial fluidity that follows speaks the language of light: pure, ethereal and essential. Ironwork has been made unobtrusive by its white color and minimum thickness. The woodwork is pale in color (used for the flooring, the door trim, and other fixtures) and maintains its raw essence with its defects (knots, variations) that, in this case, create a kind of “guiding principle” between our projects and nature outside. This connection became so close as to coincide, in the case of the wooden wall installation, with the genesis of the project. Dynamic surfaces, innovative shapes, and organic forms are the results of mathematical calculations derived from environmental data and generated by specific software that checks the “DNA” of the shape. This creative procedure is called “parametric planning,” of which StudioKami makes use of in the completion of various projects such as the permanent installation of ParametricWave in Rome's MAXXI museum, with whom it actively take part in workshops on this subject. The Background of the Ex-Lanificio Luciani The Ex Lanificio Luciani (the former Luciani woolen mill) is a large structure of industrial archeology that rises up on a particularly evocative spot along the Aniene river, at via di Pietralata157-159. Many professional and creative activities find room in this post-industrial context. Their aim is a redevelopment of space and territory through the creation of new work spaces and new areas of accumulation with a single objective: cultural activity in all its shapes and the development of a creative “factory.” During the '70s these spaces began to be exploited for their distinctiveness and uniqueness by the worlds of entertainment and cinema, thus beginning a phenomenon of conversion that spontaneously developed in time without following any particular program. Studios, offices, restaurants, and nightclubs took the place of old laundries and heavy weaving machinery, progressively modifying the interior of this former woolen factory.
