THE OLD FAEMA FAC­TORY: IN­DUS­TRIAL AR­CHAEO­LOGY AND CON­TEM­PO­RARY AR­CHI­TEC­TURE

A row of scaf­fol­ding emerges on the right-hand side of the small Via Ven­tura, hinges around the Hyundai de­posit, now in di­suse, and the crumb­ling ske­leton of the old Tag­liabue (later Mirea) fac­tory, where once in­dus­trial ma­chi­nery was made. Mo­der­nity is co­ming to the Lam­brate zone, still known as the “n­orth-eas­tern outs­kirts”, but in ac­tual fact a small bo­rough that has been in­cor­po­rated in the city and shut off funnel-like bet­ween the railway tracks on one side and the East­side by­pass on the other. Some twenty years of abandon had passed, ac­com­pa­nied by the joy­less co­ha­bi­ta­tion of its re­si­dents with the empty fac­to­ries and mi­se­rable crumb­ling walls that re­flected an in­dus­trial past wiped out by chan­ging times. Then eve­r­y­thing started with the old coffee-ma­chine fac­tory Faema, re­born as a “cul­ture fac­tory”, which eve­r­yday in­volves some 500 edi­tors, ar­chi­tects, de­si­gners and ar­tists in a net­work of schemes and pro­jects.

 

 

 

de­ve­lop­ment pro­cess

 

The re­no­va­tion scheme for the old Faema fac­tory in­dus­trial area in Via Ven­tura in­volves a group of ware­houses and buil­dings co­ve­ring a sur­face area of 20,000 sq m. Begun in 2000, the aim of the pro­ject was to breathe life back into an ob­so­lete fac­tory by ma­king it part of the quarter and gi­ving it back to the people. The ar­chi­tec­ture is ad­apted to a se­ries of dif­fe­rent func­tions. The out­lines of the ori­ginal space have been kept, but diss­ected and re­mo­ving parts to in­tro­duce light, air and green areas to the new spaces. Ter­races, pa­tios and cour­tyards offer new uses, while former in­dus­trial sites be­come new areas for hou­sing.  Ar­chi­tect Aldo Cibic re­de­si­gned three ware­houses that now house the pu­blis­hing com­pany “A­bi­tare”, who were the first to move to the re­fur­bished quarter in 2002. Since then, a new area has sprung up around it. Ma­riano Pichler trans­ferred his studio-gal­lery here, while on the upper floors lofts were being made ready for jour­na­lists and ad­ver­ti­sing com­pa­nies. Then came ar­chi­tects Mutti and Al­ba­nese. In 2003 gal­lery owner Mas­simo De Carlo joined them, ta­king over a whole ware­house. A year later, a new oc­cu­pant: in­ha­bi­ting the top floor (on the east side) was the Scuola Po­li­tec­nica di De­sign, which alone brings Lam­brate an ave­rage of two hun­dred young people daily, pier­cing in their mouths and Ita­lian dic­tio­na­ries in their pockets. Last but not least to make its ap­pea­rance a branch of the Tri­en­nale book­shop, spe­cia­li­sing in gra­phics and de­sign. Also on the site are re­si­den­tial areas, shops and a lo­ca­tion for events.

 

the tech­no­logy

The aim was to be ex­pe­ri­mental while con­ser­ving the pre-exis­ting struc­ture. Va­rious in­dus­trial com­ponents have been di­vested of their ori­ginal use: cor­ru­gated fibre ce­ment for the new roofing; po­ly­car­bo­nate pla­stic for the light-filled re­cep­tion area, the green­houses and stair­wells; slender strips of gal­va­nised iron for the tech­nical areas; de­rolled/un­rolled mul­ti­layer wooden pa­nels for the fa­cing of the front; double panes of U glass to close off the di­vided areas; railway slee­pers, no longer in use, lain on the ground as speed bumps.