Factories
Talking about factories means talking about processes and products, technological innovation, countries and people. Pirelli’s first plant for processing rubber opened in Milan in 1873. Just a few years later, it started expanding abroad, opening branches and production plants and it soon became a multinational corporation that was known and admired around the world. It now has 18 factories operating in 12 countries. In the 1950s, the factory acquired a new look, always abreast of the fast-changing times, as it was seen through the eyes of artists and painters, and a few years ago it was viewed in music too, when its rhythms, beats and sounds became “Canto della fabbrica” (The Song of the Factory), a piece performed by Salvatore Accardo and his Orchestra da Camera Italiana, written by Francesco Fiore.
The factory also becomes a thing of beauty, in Industry 4.0, as can be seen in the “Spina” section at the Settimo Torinese Industrial Centre designed by Renzo Piano. Buildings originally created for industrial purposes ultimately became landmarks and symbols, as was the case with the Pirelli Skyscraper, designed by Gio Ponti in 1955 and known by all as the “Pirellone”, which became an emblem of modernity in an exceptional moment for Italy during the years of the economic boom.
The factory is also a symbol of transformation, as can be seen in the Bicocca Project, which called for the redevelopment of the area north of Milan. The project then became a symbol of the close bond between the company’s industrial buildings and the urban fabric around it. The project was championed in the mid-1980s by the then president, Leopoldo Pirelli, with its objective summed up in these words: “Bicocca in the 1990s should not be a closed space, inaccessible to the people, but on the contrary an open place, with great potential for communication and economic, social and cultural exchanges. An area where new technologies will speak the language of people”.
Talking about factories means talking about processes and products, technological innovation, countries and people. Pirelli’s first plant for processing rubber opened in Milan in 1873. Just a few years later, it started expanding abroad, opening branches and production plants and it soon became a multinational corporation that was known and admired around the world. It now has 18 factories operating in 12 countries. In the 1950s, the factory acquired a new look, always abreast of the fast-changing times, as it was seen through the eyes of artists and painters, and a few years ago it was viewed in music too, when its rhythms, beats and sounds became “Canto della fabbrica” (The Song of the Factory), a piece performed by Salvatore Accardo and his Orchestra da Camera Italiana, written by Francesco Fiore.
The factory also becomes a thing of beauty, in Industry 4.0, as can be seen in the “Spina” section at the Settimo Torinese Industrial Centre designed by Renzo Piano. Buildings originally created for industrial purposes ultimately became landmarks and symbols, as was the case with the Pirelli Skyscraper, designed by Gio Ponti in 1955 and known by all as the “Pirellone”, which became an emblem of modernity in an exceptional moment for Italy during the years of the economic boom.
The factory is also a symbol of transformation, as can be seen in the Bicocca Project, which called for the redevelopment of the area north of Milan. The project then became a symbol of the close bond between the company’s industrial buildings and the urban fabric around it. The project was championed in the mid-1980s by the then president, Leopoldo Pirelli, with its objective summed up in these words: “Bicocca in the 1990s should not be a closed space, inaccessible to the people, but on the contrary an open place, with great potential for communication and economic, social and cultural exchanges. An area where new technologies will speak the language of people”.
