Four firms have released proposals to redesign Italian beverage company S. Pellegrino’s factory in northern Italy. The shortlisted finalists include Copenhagen- and New York-based Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), Dutch firm MVRDV, Oslo, Norway- and New York-based Snøhetta, and Italian Architetto Michele De Lucchi (aMDL). The renderings were displayed at an event held in San Pellegrino Terme—a commune in the province of Bergamo, Italy—where the carbonated mineral water drink and fruit sodas have been made since 1899.
The design competition, launched back in July along with the announcement of the selected firms, is the company’s effort to “celebrate heritage,” according to S. Pellegrino’s site, and reach back to the Belle Époque era, a time between the Franco-Prussian War and World War I when the Italian province of Bergamo was a tourist destination. And in a contingency more relevant to today’s audience, the company also requested that the redesigned facility to be environmentally sustainable.
The winner will be announced later this month.
To learn more about the projects, click the links below, or head over to ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery.
BIG’s take expands on a single feature from the original structure: the archway. BIG takes that form and expands on it. In the middle of the building, visitors will find the core of the site, a core sample of the Alpine riverbed will show the visitor the water’s 30-year journey through the mountains which purifies it.
Courtesy of San Pellegrino
MVRDV’s design takes inspiration from Pellegrino’s logo, a bold red star. The project would also make use of the surrounding environment by integrating lots of mirrors and reflective materials, and the top floor will feature water cascading down.
Courtesy Snøhetta
San Pellegrino Flagship Proposal, by Snøhetta
To integrate the factory into the surrounding community, Snøhetta proposes building a public park into the factory’s grounds, along with adding a pedestrian bridge. The exterior of the building would be covered in a layer of stainless steel mesh.
Courtesy of San Pellegrino
Architetto Michele De Lucchi’s design centers on four themes: to be natural, pure, conscientious, and cool. The Italian firm’s take on these states include a pedestrian bridge that leads up to the main site and features a transparent façade and an additional rounded “water theatre” that serves a dual purpose of showing the importance of water and its role in the natural environment and serving as a public place to host events.
