Barilla Pavilion
Year
Location
Status
Co-authors
Collaborators
Area
2019
Parma, Italy
Competition entry, Shortlisted finalist
Adrián Flores, Carolina Segura, David de la Garza
ARUP, SWA, Atelier Brükner
12,800 m2
In 2018 the Italian transnational held an international design competition for a new building in their main factory in the outskirts of Parma. They were looking for a landmark that could house their extensive art collection, which until then adorned their office halls. The building was also to serve as a meeting place between the very private factory and their consumers and visitors; it should house exhibitions that could tell the history of the brand and their production processes, and host research labs and a test site for consumer experiments.
A breakthrough in the design process was when we organized the very complex program in a manner that recounted the process of pasta production in a way that visitors could, by way of navigating the project, understand the different processes that go into pasta production. The main circulation is organized in a single ramp that twists into an infinity loop. Visitors can enter the circulation at various points and follow the production process exhibition. This shape generated two courtyards, one towards the public park and one towards the private factory, making the building a threshold between both realms.
On our visit to the factory and the city we encountered a very common sight: scaffolding surrounding buildings under restoration. This image conveys the presence of an important building or monument underneath. We decided to use this image; the building would be a long-spanning space frame structure very lightweight and transparent, made up of slender elements, which are also reminiscent of spaghetti. The space-frame allowed for mechanical installations and a double façade that would mitigate solar exposure. Inside the space-frame, a separate structure would house a circulation ramp in which the program develops, the continuous change in elevation and different adjacent programs make for an ever changing but still somehow uniform experience in the building.