Lingotto Factory: The Transformative Industrial Building in Turin, 1915-1939, Appunti di Storia

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Lingotto 1915-1939 • Industrial company Fiat transforming its production system and thus asking for a new building to house the new production system • Turin – 150kms from west of milan – Lingotto name comes from the name of the area in which its located – Work of the factory didn’t stop until the beginning of WW2 – In 1917 the factory was immediately converted for new needs introduced by WW2 so it was producing cars and weapons then – after war converted to a car factory until 1980’s – factory was closed, fiat kept producing in other plant and the building entered a new phase • Turin in 1910 – evolution of city is clear –  pale blue area - the city centre – very old part of the city found by Romans with few middle age developments like Baroque and some extension during first half of 19th century – it is part of the city that evolved till 1830’s approx.  pale red area - first cycle of extension but it didn’t happen all in the same time – first city evolved in one direction and then in other - the part on the east was part of the old block and so extension developed on the north, west and south  yellow area – Subsequently and immediately the city kept growing in the yellow zone in a sort of growth with no solutions of continuity – key elements of city like the place of arms were displaced from one place to another because the city was growing - another space that evolved was the cemetery locate din the northern part of the city  duty belt – belt around the city to limit the entry - if you have goods with you when entering the city then you have to pay a certain tax because city was market where one can sell their products at higher prices • Main storyline of the lesson – story of transfer and displacement – movement of structure, ideas, prototypes and imagery • Transfer of the plant  Fiat founded in 2nd half of the 19th century as its first plant as shown in the plan not far from river Po(major river in Turin) – the displacement took place from point marker 1 to 2  1930 plan - we can see that the urban fabric in area 2 is still not completely shaped when we compare it to area 1 even when its 1930’s – in 1915 they decided to move to the outskirts of the city where location 2 was – it was on the margins of the city – the area was not entirely urban – countryside with few suburban villas  Turin 1912 belt map - first representation of the displacement – the new site was located in between the historical axis going south and the railway line so two important infrastructure somehow containing the site Its important that the site was inside the new duty belt directed in 1912 • First plant of fiat 1910–  2 storey building with some delicate decoration  Interiors based on scientific arrangement of labour and very nuanced  Production is in between hand craft operation and industrial one  Production of car is divided in various steps but organization and connection between the different steps is not very objective • FIAT Lingotto plant –  5 storeys plant as compared to the old 2 storey plant  Evidently, we can see elements that are a transfer from Highland Park ford plant model – similar structure – similar relationship between the transparent and non-transparent surfaces – even similarity with the brick wall treatment – similarity in treatment of façade – we can observe and appreciate the interest of Trucco of transforming the logical systems – maximizing the workspace and minimizing the resources – an attempt to create an image for the process of construction for the factory – there are many other important innovations in this model • Scheme for organization of production in Lingotto factory was not made by an architect but by scholar of industrial, cultural and history of organization of labour  Different systems combining with other – working desks, assembly line, carousel and ideal line depicting the whole process of production  Not an absolutely linear system but still idea of producing in an incredibly long element is there, because assembly line develops linearly so longer the building, more effective the space is – even if there is integration of different system  It’s a picture of a single moment because the organization of labour inside the building cannot be represented by single image but it’s a story of development • Early 20’s–mechanization is not taking the command - every shelf is the result of the specific worker working on it but with no movement • Late 20’s- organization of production changed a lot – rail transporting the machine – a wheel, seat and tank for gasoline mounted on these rail system that transported this machine to the roof for the first test • Important thing not present in original model – the production process that starts from the 1st floor and go above till the roof, there the roof is not conventional - there is a piste on the roof on which car can be tested during the construction process and after the construction process – piste on the roof can be seen as a parabolic curve on one of the extremes of the building • 1st layer important to Lingotto - New systems of labour organization an important aspect when dealing with lingotto • 2nd layer – How this building has been built? • Introduction of reinforced concrete in construction is relatively new and developed in last decades of 19th century with different concepts and patents somehow competing with one another – the person who rises in the first place would be Francois Hennebique – he registered a patent and had incredible spread all over Europe – dozens of buildings in Europe started using this patent of a system to make slabs in order to divide one storey from another with principle and secondary beam organised in different ways but always similarly - different builders in different countries started using this patent and innovating it • This type of structure was found almost everywhere – it developed very quickly – reinforced concrete floor had a very good resistance to fire when compared to masonry, metal and wood - as shown in Reutlinger Furniture Plant a wooden structure was the ideal model of this concept – this is an important history for the structure of Lingotto • In Italy, Engineer Giovanni Porcheddu, active in North Italy, he found his own construction company and both the patents by Hennebique. With this patent he start building in North Western Italian cities, a wide range of buildings , all in which multistorey structure was convenient and resistance to fire was an important element • Market in Genova built in east part of the city at the end of century • Plan shows infinite grid of pillars and thus has no limit in construction • When construction began citizens realised something new was coming up – picture shows the contrast between the building that was built about 4-5 years ago and new building rising • Picture published in 1916 in journal titled “engines, planes, cycles and sport” – not a journal dedicated to architecture/engineering – indicates 2 forces that impressed people – 1. Size of construction site, the end of which is not in sight and 2. Amount of macines that were working in it • The infinite structural system atleast prevailing in theory was put the development to end by Trucco due to 2 elements 1. Circular Ramp - to make it possible for the car to reach the piste on the roof driving - In terms of organization and construction certain insertion was made in the simple and rational system - Key issue – ramp was a completely heterogeneous element - Beams work in a completely different logic and sometimes pillar have to be displaced from one place to another in order to combine to create a aperfect match between the original systema and new system introduced by the ramp - Ramp provokes strong interferences in the grid and in many spaces the mould has to be varied to perfectly combine with the grid 2. Roof with pist also posed an exception in the system which was conceived to be a perefect rule on the contrary • Building thus combination of rule and exception in away that the results were harmonic • Lingotto became a strong icon strongly linked with FIAT and also became a communication strategy – strongly advocating public image of an eneterprise • FIAT conquered its space in collective imagery • Various events like car racing on the roof piste gave visibility to FIAT logo across whole of Europe • Lingotto became attractive and an object of admiration to not just people dealing with industrial production but everyone eels including the Italian king • Journal describing the visit of king and his astonishment – - In terms of size – unusual size, sort of out of scale, provoking marvel because of size – not just from outie but inside as well – view of the 4 internal courtyards gives a perception of infinite structure – monument to rationality