The Kid's Factory is located in Laveno-Mombello, Italy. The existing buildings in the project present a highly hybrid urban image, from palazzo to industrial buildings which including not only the large-span factory but the multi-storey buildings with concrete frame structures. Such image could be regarded as the growth rings of Laveno Mombello. Historical buildings and industrial buildings merge here, beyond that, in the next update phase, the project will grow into a future-oriented kid’s Factory. The integration of historical, industrial, and contemporary elements will become a new urban landmark.

The design aims at back to the future, with not denying the past and not afraid of the future. Instead of the traditional conservative building renewal method, the design prefer a more thoroughly updated and transformed plan, on the basis of fully analyzing the existing building value. On the aspect of “Back”, The design retains the outline the original industrial building in order to inherit the original urban image. On the aspect of “Future”, the limited narrow site leads to a bold way to deal the new-built building as landscapes integrated into the whole site, enabling the external space to develop in multiple dimensions and open to the city to attract local residents and foreign tourists, This new city landmark will be the potential core in the next “Urban Up” phase for Laveno Mombello. In these site with diversified architectural experiences, children can be effectively educated during their golden age, while adults can also find memories of their innocent age.

Area: 20,000 m2

Year: 2018

Lead Architects: Zhiqian Chen, Yi Wang, Junwen Deng

Client: Unipol Group