Fiat Lingotto factory

Soon after its foundation, in 1899, the Fiat built in corso Dante its first factories, o a draw by Enrico Bonicelli, that, however, after a few years appear as insufficient.

It is then decided the construction of an only building: located the area in the south part of the city and started the rail loop line, since 1912 there are works for the architectural project.

It is difficult to ascribe the design to a one author in particular: the engineer Giacomo Mattè Trucco, outside the Fiat, had different roles, besides others like Francesco Cartasegna and Vittorio Bonadè Bottino, within a complex system of relationships.

The Lingotto

In July 1916 begins the construction of the Shunting Garage, in the south of the area and soon after the New Garages project started; it is the main building of the complex, in five floors, with double sleeve and short closes, built on a homogeneous mesh of reinforced concrete pillars.

In 1919 the car track was projected, a one-kilometre long ring on the roof of the building. To allow a direct access, in 1923-1924, it was projected the north ellipsoidal flight; during its construction, about 1926, there is the project to link the New Garages and the Shunting Garage, which hosts the south flight, of a more complex structural conception.

Inaugurated in 1923, the factory was completed in 1929-1930. At the Lingotto the car production ended only in 1982. A mixed capital society, with the Fiat's participation, promoted an international contest for the re-qualification of the building, but it does not point out a winner.

The job was later given to the Renzo Piano's office, which transformed part of the New Garages in a congress centre, with a huge auditorium; the Shunting Garage became a fair area.

An helicopter landing strip and a vast meeting room, in a glass bubble, are placed above the car track. Inside the project is completed with the realisation of a super elevated shopping gallery (8 Gallery), of a big hotel, a multiplex, an the prestigious art gallery Giovanni and Marella Agnelli.

The Office Building, projected in 1921-1922, was renovated by Roberto Gabetti and Aimaro Isola and from 1998 it is again seat of the central administration of Fiat.

Testimony of a determining industrial past for the Turin identity, the Lingotto remains an unmistakeable element for the urban landscape, besides being an icon in the architectural modernity, mainly known starting from the image given by Le Corbusier in Vers une architecture, in 1923.