Luxottica Digital Factory

Milan, Italy
Courtyard
Photo © Andrea Martiradonna
Courtyard detail
Photo © Andrea Martiradonna
View of the building from via Tortona
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
View of the entrance from via Tortona
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
View of the entrance from via Tortona
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Courtyard
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Courtyard
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Courtyard detail
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Hall Foyer
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Courtyard pivot doors' detail
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Main stairs detail
Photo © Lorenzo Zandri
Gound Floor
Drawing © Park Associati
First Floor
Drawing © Park Associati
Elevation - Via Tortona
Drawing © Park Associati
Section
Drawing © Park Associati
Section
Drawing © Park Associati
Section
Drawing © Park Associati
State of the art_exterior from via Tortona
Photo © Mario Frusca
State of the art_exterior from via Tortona
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site October 2017_interior
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site November 2017_interior
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site March 2019_interior
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site October 2019_interior
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site February 2021_interior_main staircase
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site October 2022_exterior_entrance
Photo © Mario Frusca
Construction site October 2022_exterior on via Tortona
Photo © Mario Frusca
arkkitehdit
Park Associati
Location
Via Tortona 35, 20144 Milan, Italy
Year
2022
Client
Luxottica Group S.p.A.
Team
Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi, Lorenzo Merloni (Project Leader), Michele Versaci, Valeria Donini, Alessandro Bentivegna, Simone Caimi, Ismail Seleit, Marco Vitalini, Cristina Tudela Molino, Luna Pavanello, Sofia Dalmasso, Luca Pazzaglia, Mario Frusca, Marinella Ferrari
Mechanical and Electrical Plants, Fire prevention, Lighting Project, LEED Certification
ESA Engineering, Milan
Structures
MSC Associati, Milan
Façades
Deerns, Milan
Interior Design
Storagemilano
Landscape Project
Arch. Marco Bay, Milan

From energy to technology through architectural quality and experimentation.

Milan is enhanced by a new intervention of industrial architectural restoration aimed at accommodating the Digital Factory of Luxottica, a world leader in the eyewear market. Thanks to Park Associati's retrofitting intervention, in collaboration with storagemilano the complex becomes an open and flexible container where history, change and creativity find the ideal convergence ground.

Paying the greatest attention to quality, using technologically innovative materials and seeking cutting-edge architectural solutions are the Digital Factory project’s focal points that take inspiration from Luxottica's identity principles, while paying attention to the peculiar elements of the place and respecting the social fabric of the neighbourhood hosting the new structure.

Park Associati's project reinterprets the existing industrial building - formerly occupied by General Electric - by maintaining its main volumes and, above all, its character, with contemporary top quality additions both to the façade and inside.

The intervention emphasises the building's original shapes and lines by eliminating any later internal additions and by adapting the building to contemporary safety and sustainability parameters, while preserving the excellent reinforced concrete truss design and enhancing the façade's vertical shape.

The casing is the result of technological and structural research aimed at lending the building the greatest transparency and indoor brightness. The daring and startling façade overlooking Via Tortona consists of a full-height glazed structure with vertical bronzed metal pilasters that bring to mind the sheds.

Transparency is reflected onto the internal spaces that are completely reinterpreted to accommodate the new functions: the showroom and some commercial spaces on the ground floor, and the Digital Lab - a high-tech innovation centre - on the first floor. Designed by storagemilano in collaboration with Park Associati, the interiors are bright and comfortable and benefit from green leisure and informal meeting areas - the internal garden on the ground floor and the green patios on the first floor.

The intervention follows a LEED quality and sustainability protocol, and is estimated to be awarded the "GOLD" class. The Digital Factory helps revitalize an area of the city that from suburban environment has been turned into a vital area, which is thus returned to the urban and social fabric.

Related Projects

  • Mensa Berufsschule Ziegelbrücke
    Soliman Zurkirchen Architekten
  • Shanghai Suhe MixC World
    KOKAISTUDIOS
  • Welcome to the Stage!
    Kjellander Sjöberg
  • Hovering Kan-Too – Great Bay Area Center Showroom
    Wutopia Lab
  • Stockwell-Rodríguez Residence
    Belmont Freeman Architects

Magazine

Other Projects by Park Associati

The Cube
London, Great Britain
Tiziano 32
Milan, Italy
La Serenissima
Milan, Italy
The Cube
Milano, Italy
Hermés Silk Mix
Rome, Italy