The conversion of the ex-Cotton-Manufacturing Plant – Cotonificio Bresciano Ottolini – of Villanuova sul Clisi (Brescia, Italy) to a commercial and administrative shopping area by the Italmark group of Brescia is a 40,000 square meter (400,000 sf) project, opened in Jenuary of 2003 as an interpretive restoration of an industrial complex. The once industrial area is transformed into an active node of activities and social exchanges that has a direct relation and a role of revitalization of the adjacent town’s historic center. The four storied structure of the project is perforated and sculpted to adhere to its functional program. Through the manipulation of the existing complex the design intent aims to maintain the austere and linear memory of the nineteenth century industrial building.
Distribution is considered a primary objective throughout the design and thanks to it the functional uses of the spaces within the project are justified. Movement throughout the complex is rendered free and flexible. The accessways flow into an ample central area – clearly visible in plan and in section – that assumes the form of a truncated glass cone – a three tiered ‘piazza’ – that acts as a junction node for the entire project. This element is symbolically interpreted as a formal influence from the surrounding mountains or as a tribute to the building’s long tradition of labor.