Renovation and re-design of the elevations of a factory in Lumezzane
The proposed work, the renovation of a metalworks factory, follows what was started five years ago with the functional reuse project of a decommissioned factory and completes an ambitious regeneration programme of an industrial district of the beginning of the fifties of the last century.
The renovation, along with the re-design of the elevations, gave the opportunity to envision a production site able to establish new connections with the environment, the built context and the end users to whom the building is intended.
The research for a new ‘expressive potential’ had to deal with the quality and characteristics of the landscape, highly distinctive and characterised in a village situated in a valley.
By the use of different strategies, the project aims at finding the right integration with the surrounding context and, at the same time, reducing the ‘live weight’ of the factory.
The new shell [envelope?] is made up of elements of different materials and uses:
_a facade that thanks to the different perception of the elements that compose it, is able to diminish the perceived height of the existing volume, _a discordant facing that highlights the entrance and management centre, _a wall able to ‘merge/blend’ with the natural backdrop through a mimetic type of construction.
The design is based on the conservation and enhancement of all its characteristics, may they be cultural, historical, industrial and technological but with a new, environmental and sustainable sensitivity. Through a design that has also the task of re-ordering the context, the building continues anew its productive life.
