This disused industrial warehouse was renovated in 1982 to create a new cultural and sports complex. The design was treated as two parts, the existing factory buildings and the new-build concrete towers, connected by the public space between them. The original factory buildings were stripped back to their structure and building fabric, with new additions inserted to encourage a diverse social interaction and ‘architecture for all’. The concrete towers provide space for sporting activity with two towers connected by elevated concrete walkways and a third ‘chimney’.

FACTORY SPACES

The retrofitted spaces are stripped back to their envelope and concrete structure, with various interventions to the spaces to allow eating, sitting, talking, walking, reading – centred around “Culture as a shared life experience, free-choice, freedom for gatherings and meetings.” Lina Bo Bardi. The new concrete interventions and timber furnishings change the spaces by creating changes in height and changes in spatial…