Groundbreaking: Italy’s Tetra Pak Hub is all about innovation
Architecture studio 1+1=1 Claudio Silvestrin Giuliana Salmaso has just signed off a striking addition for the home of Tetra Pak in Italy, the country's new innovation centre for the Swedish food packaging multinational.
1+1=1 Claudio Silvestrin Giuliana Salmaso and Trombini Studio won the competition to design this 1300 sq m facility back in 2009, a space which would be dedicated to research, innovation and training. This was to be built adjacent to the company's existing headquarters in Emilia Romagna. Close to Modena, the structure would be in good company, within a region where innovation is a local tradition; this is also where the Ferrari and Lamborghini car factories were founded. However, a major earthquake hit northern Italy in 2012, causing widespread damage and delaying the construction plans. The building was, at the time, in design development. The natural event caused a change in the area's earthquake regulations, so the design needed to be updated respectively.
For example, a 'gelosia' wall in the original design – a partition wall constructed with a perforated pattern that allows light and air to cross through – needed to be replaced. Enter the terracota-coloured pillars made of reinforced concrete and finished with cocciopesto.
'The intention of the project was to represent tradition, innovation and style with a stunning yet functional contemporary architecture that expresses the international image of the company and its commitment to quality and innovation', explain the architects.
Now, replacing a derelict farm on site, a winding footpath leads visitors through a green garden to the centre's dramatic, irregularly shaped 11m high wooden door. The pillars flank it on on the right hand side, while the building's curved glass facade unfolds to the left.
The interior is an 8m high sinuous space that encourages an open plan, flexible desk arrangement. The airy and calm environment overlooks a park. 'The elliptical shape facilitates the circulation of information and teamwork, and fosters a way of working that encourages communication and innovation', say the architects. 'Meanwhile the inner core contains square and rectangular rooms, which are suitable for working in a more conventional way'.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the 1+1=1 website
Photography: Giulia Ricagni and Giovanni de Sandre
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Montblanc’s leather goods evolution offers peak style
Montblanc takes design inspiration from its iconic writing archive for new collections of leather goods
By Simon Mills Published
-
Ray Phoenix to rise in Arizona
Ray Phoenix housing project launches, designed by Johnston Marklee, who worked with Lamar Johnson Collaborative and artist Alex Israel, for property experts Ray and Vela
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibition
Vivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
By Emily McDermott Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial character
Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kind
Herzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Best of brutalist Italian architecture chronicled in new book
Brutalist Italian architecture enthusiasts and concrete completists will be spoilt for choice by Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego’s pictorial tour
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Studio Tropicana, Switzerland and Italy: Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023
Based in Switzerland and Italy, Studio Tropicana is part of the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2023, our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
WeWork Meravigli blends past and present in a 21st-century office space
WeWork Meravigli launches in Milan, bringing its ornate, historical new home to the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
In memoriam: Paolo Portoghesi (1931 - 2023)
Postmodernist Italian architect Paolo Portoghesi has died; writer David Plaisant celebrates his life and legacy, recalling his visit to Calcata for a feature in the Wallpaper* April 2021 issue
By David Plaisant Published