Iconic Factory Retrofits Deck with Biodiverse Green Roof
Sourced from Nature World News
Through the efforts of architecture firm Benedetto Camerana, the iconic factory, formerly known as the Lingotto FIAT in Turin, Italy, retrofits the test track with flowers to create a biodiverse green roof.
Since 1923, the test track has been a circular area where gasoline-powered FIAT cars zoomed after ascending five floors of the factory.
The structure is a modernist landmark. Reyner Banham, a critic and historian, wrote about how it inspired everyone because in the 1920s all the real modernists had already climbed the ramps and taken photos of themselves while standing on the roof.
Lloyd Alter, a design editor for Treehugger, shared that he visited the test track in 2012. Alter recalls that at that time, Italian architect Renzo Piano had renovated a large portion of the structure. The portion of the building on the roof if the iconic factory with a restaurant was occupied, but the rest of the roof was empty and a missed opportunity.
Stellantis, formerly FIAT, has now commissioned La Pista 500, which Pinacoteca Agnelli has curated.
According to reports, the 45,000 local biodiversity specimens representing 300 species that were planted in the extra-large plant basins near the test track have thrived with very little assistance from humans. The vegetation has grown naturally and merged even more with the track's surface.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
