Touring Superleggera New Factory
location:
Torino
ITALY
with:
Gumier&Partners
client:
private
year:
2024 - in progress
program:
renovation
status:
design development
Torino
ITALY
with:
Gumier&Partners
client:
private
year:
2024 - in progress
program:
renovation
status:
design development
The design of the new workshop of the Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera is inserted at the edge of the urban tissue, along Via Giaveno, a commercial street that has little to offer in terms of aesthetics and interest. Along this stretch, the visual horizon is dominated by a succession of manufacturing or commercial warehouses that try to distinguish themselves by some solution on the facade materials. Despite these attempts, the area remains devoid of a strong identity, with buildings that in most cases lack real personality and have a banal architectural language. The project area currently contains two buildings: a long, narrow, modular, two-storey cuboid facing the street and housing offices, and a production hall behind it. Both buildings suffer from the same problems of economic and functional design; although they meet the operational needs of the site, they represent a banal and impersonal building typology that neither enhances the surrounding context nor the distinctive identity of the company.
Instead of adding yet another more or less innovative and glitzy facade that would have simply perpetuated the tradition of anonymous and commercial buildings on Via Giaveno, we chose a radically different approach. Following the example of Touring Superleggera, which transforms even mass-produced models into unique, custom-made pieces, we decided to give the design a distinctive character, one that recalls the authenticity and retro taste of handicraft that characterizes each of its creations.
For this reason, we were inspired by the golden age of the workshops and old garages of the 1950s and 1960s, when the automobile was just beginning to become a widespread and popular consumer good, but at the same time a symbol of craftsmanship and passion. This period, full of fascination and innovation, fueled our vision of an architecture that does not seek the ephemeral, but rather celebrates timeless beauty, built with sincere materials and design that does not follow fads, but creates them.
Instead of adding yet another more or less innovative and glitzy facade that would have simply perpetuated the tradition of anonymous and commercial buildings on Via Giaveno, we chose a radically different approach. Following the example of Touring Superleggera, which transforms even mass-produced models into unique, custom-made pieces, we decided to give the design a distinctive character, one that recalls the authenticity and retro taste of handicraft that characterizes each of its creations.
For this reason, we were inspired by the golden age of the workshops and old garages of the 1950s and 1960s, when the automobile was just beginning to become a widespread and popular consumer good, but at the same time a symbol of craftsmanship and passion. This period, full of fascination and innovation, fueled our vision of an architecture that does not seek the ephemeral, but rather celebrates timeless beauty, built with sincere materials and design that does not follow fads, but creates them.
