The Task:

This project challenged me to think about the Productive Power of Architecture in the transformation of the city and its peripheral areas. Located in the district of Lambrate is the former Innocenti Administration building, now disused since the company’s collapse in the 1970’s. The task was to choose from one four set programmes and redesign your chosen site, maintaining a minimum of 30% of the existing structure. The programmes included a Data Centre, Cultural Factory, Vertical Farm and University/Faculty Building of which I chose to design a Cultural Factory.

The Inspiration:

My interest in automotive engineering sparked the idea to regenerate Lambrate’s rich automotive history, whilst capturing the strong nostalgic feeling of the past. Therefore, I took into account the elegant design of the existing Innocenti Administration building and decided to preserve the entire structure and work with it rather than to impose architecture in the district without paying homage to its defining past.

The Concept:

Upon visiting the site in Milan, I couldn’t help but notice the broken window panes outlined by darkness in what I could only imagine was once part of a booming infrastructure for Lambrate’s local residents. I took this as my main source of inspiration to inform the concept of Linearity & Fragmentation. The idea was to use what I felt was part of the deterrent preventing residents of the area to engage with the neglected architecture and to juxtapose it, making it the reason the local community will be attracted to the architecture that will emerge.