Nestled amid the lush and gently undulating hills at the heart of Tuscany, the bucolic small town of Radda in Chianti encompasses dozens of vineyards and centuries-old farmhouses. Last August, this agricultural bastion became the home of a contemporary and cosmopolitan new neighbour from Paris, when Celine inaugurated a sprawling handbag-making plant there. Designed by Fabio Barluzzi and Barbara Ponticelli of the MetroOffice architecture studio, ‘La Manufacture’, as it is named by Celine, is a glass and concrete hilltop monolith that doesn’t apologise for its industrial muscle. Instead, its transparent walls are designed to eliminate the boundary between the viticultural hills and the workers inside, exalting the role of the artisans by encircling them with Tuscany’s natural beauty.
‘We never intended to hide the fact that this is a factory,’ said Barluzzi, pausing before one of the building’s full glass walls, which faces out towards the hilly crests neatly combed by snaking rows of grapevines. ‘We just wanted to help the factory to exist within this countryside context.’ The architects devised full walls of glass to open the panorama in every direction for the factory’s workers, swearing off view-blocking window blinds and curtains to mediate the sun. The upper half of the glass walls are instead sheathed in semi-transparent, light-diffusing glass bricks, creating a second skin that wraps around all but the northern façade and echoes the bowed form of the hill on which the building sits, formerly the site of a kitchen furniture factory. ‘Factories generally make the landscape uglier,’ comments Ponticelli. ‘This one follows the shape of the landscape instead.’
This story is from the May 2020 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2020 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A Kind of Magic
Demna's breathtaking couture collection takes centre stage at Balenciaga's newly renovated couture salons in Paris
Building Site
Sun Tower, China, by Open Architecture
Circular Approach
Repurpose clothing initiative, by Oliver Spencer
CITY
Seoul's unique mix of culture, art and style goes global, thanks to an unstoppable new wave of dynamic creatives
RESTORATION KINGS
Laplace for Hauser & Wirth Paris
CARDBOARD CUTOUTS
'Box' furniture, by Max Lamb, for Gallery Fumi
URBAN BOLTHOLE
Pacaembu House, Brazil, by Arthur Casas
SURREALIST DREAMS
Weird and wonderful works to wake up to
CROWNING GLORY
15-step scalp treatment, by Eco Jardin by Park Jun
WEARABLE ART
Jewellery collection, by Lynda Benglis, for Loewe