Location: Naples, Italy
Year: 2019
Category: architecture, interiors
Type: productive
Client: private
Status: in progress
Area: 1,200 square meters
Design: Mario Coppola

Working group: arch. Chiara Pisapia (design assistance), ing. Francesco Taglialatela (structures), ing. Ludovico Fariello (mechanical systems), ing. Alfredo Passaro (preliminary economic estimate)

The project for the Formicola production center starts from the volume of the prefabricated body in reinforced concrete, a 26x24x10m parallelepiped.

Taking note of the “weight” of this block. the design idea consists in dividing the volume into two parts: an underlying band, in anthracite color, and the remaining body in white. In this way the volume is broken down into two more slender elements instead of a monolith, gaining in lightness.

The anthracite “ribbon” protrudes from the building through a continuous and dynamic geometry. inspired by the folds of fabrics and natural geometries, and opens up, generating the entrance. A small canopy accompanies the opening, emptying the left corner of the building, closed by a glass wall.

The external anthracite surface “enters” the hall of the center, transforming itself into an architectural “skin” that envelops the whole large longitudinal space crossed by the staircase. From this environment, upon entering, the production is immediately visible, separated from the entrance by a transparent diaphragm; the false ceiling, continuing the movement started on the outside by the shelter, accompanies the space and the look upstairs, where the fully glazed showroom is located.