AGOSTINI SHOES
MIDE architetti
MANUFACTURERS
Artemide, VitrA, FLOS
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
Fabrizio Michielon, Sergio de Gioia
CATEGORY
Mixed Use Architecture, Industrial Architecture, Offices
LOCATION
Noventana, Italy
Text description provided by architect.
The intervention involves an existing productive building, located along a busy commercial route of Noventa Padovana, in the eastern rural area of Padua.
The late 900’s architectural body is composed of a compact large vaulted volume, in which a third is occupied by a two-storey directional block and two-thirds by a double high space hosting the workshop.
Although the project considered demolishing the existing partitions, the design intention was to retain the original internal configuration.
The office and dressing rooms block is composed of a two-storey load-bearing steel framework, completed with perimetral plasterboard partitions and featured by large glazed openings that visually connect the directional upper level with the open space of the workshop.
The ground level hosts restrooms, dressing rooms, equipment rooms, as well as a reception area leading towards the upper floor offices and showroom.
The main front demanded a more detailed design study, as its immediate connection with the public spaces suggested that an iconic intervention could emphasise the productive and commercial role of the plant in the area.
The façade was therefore conceived as a carved metal skin, opaque during the day and semi-transparent in the night, recalling the manufacture’s shoe textures by the ‘light perforations’.