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Celebrated Italian design and automotive magnate Paolo Pininfarina passes away aged 65

2024-04-09T19:07:00-04:00

Paolo Pininfarina, the Italian business leader credited with expanding his family’s automotive enterprise into architecture and other areas of the design field, has died in Turin at the age of 65. The Pininfarina Chairman was known as a visionary who designed more than 600 cars after completing his engineering studies at the Polytechnic University in his home city.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Board of Statutory Auditors, and all Pininfarina employees, I express deep sorrow and condolences for the loss of our dear Chairman," Pininfarina's CEO, Silvio Angori, said in a press release.

Light Towers by Pininfarina in Mérida, Mexico. Image courtesy Pininfarina

"We are all extremely grateful to Eng. Pininfarina for his extraordinary contribution to the company and for always passionately advocating for our history and corporate identity both in terms of style and ethical and behavioral choices," his statement continued. "I am personally grateful to him for confirming me in th...

FIAT unveils new La Pista 500 project, now Europe's largest public rooftop garden

2022-06-21T20:13:00-04:00

The mantle of international rooftop garden design might have a new crown jewel following Camerana&Partners’ completion of the La Pista 500 project for legendary Italian automaker FIAT in the country’s motorsports capital of Turin.

Promoted by the Pinacoteca Agnelli as a “manifesto of sustainability and inclusivity as well as a suspended public art project”, the project also serves to showcase FIAT’s new 500 model EV design while playing host to a series of art installations filled with approximately 40,000 plants. It is located atop the company’s historic 1923 Lingotto factory building (later converted into a mixed-use space by Renzo Piano) and retains, as a symbolic feature, the site’s original 1.1 km (.683 mile) long test track that starred in the 1969 crime caper The Italian Job.

Image: Marco Schiavone courtesy of Benedetto Camerana

That track is now the exclusive domain of electric cars (and other non-combustion engine vehicles...

Turin's Cavallerizza Reale royal stables catch fire

2019-10-24T19:45:00-04:00

A fire broke out in Turin’s 18th-century royal stables and riding school the Cavallerizza Reale on Monday, destroying part of the roof of the UNESCO world heritage site...The blaze began at about 0745 local time, firefighters said. Six teams were deployed and the flames were extinguished after about two hours, but not before a significant part of the roof had collapsed.

The cause of the fire is unknown and no one was injured, Reuters reports.

Carlo Ratti uses drones to set the tone for a technological future in artistic collaboration

2019-08-03T09:57:00-04:00

Architect Carlo Ratti's design studio has utilized drone technology to produce a crowdsourced work of art in Turin, Italy. Measuring in at 46 x 39 feet, the project was developed as part of UFO-Urban Flying Opera, a participatory technology and art project funded by Compagnia di San Paolo.

Created by four UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) working in unison for two straight days, the vertical graffiti has proved to be the result of a fruitful experiment. According to Ratti's firm, this marked the first time a swarm of drones were employed to create a collaborative piece of art.

Crowdsourcing was a foundational building block in the project. The final product was the result of feedback received from over a thousand participants. The public was invited to contribute visual content that conveyed their thoughts, hopes, and ideas regarding what cities should look like.

“The city is an open canvas, where people can inscribe their stories in many ways,” says Ratti.“Such processes have alwa...

Iotti + Pavarani Architetti-designed office building fills an entire block in Turin

2017-07-13T09:48:00-04:00

The new operations headquarters of Reale Group, designed by Iotti + Pavarani Architetti, was recently opened in Turin, Italy. Located on the southwestern border of the city’s Roman castrum it replaced a building from the seventies, redefining and modernizing the entire block.

Covering a built area of 23,500 square meters, the LEED Platinum certified building will accommodate 800 work stations, 150 parking spaces, a conference room for 280 people and will include a visible from the street 1,700 square meter internal courtyard.

Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia de arquitectura

"The entire complex takes on board the surrounding area and “absorbs” a protected historical façade (that on Via Bertola and Via San Dalmazzo), creating a compositional solution in harmony with the surrounding buildings."

Fernando Guerra | FG+SG fotografia de arquitectura

"The architectural envelope becomes a fulcrum, a gravitational hub in the urban fabric of this part of the surrounding centre of Turin: it foc...

Reducing Turin's smog with free public transit

2015-12-11T12:55:00-05:00

Health warnings have been issued this week as atmospheric pollution is set to rise to dangerously high levels on Thursday and Friday, with levels of breathable toxic particles reaching 100 micrograms per cubic meter. In a bid to stop pollution reaching dangerous levels, the council is making the city's buses and metro free on Thursday and Friday to reduce the emissions caused by Turin's heavy traffic.

Other cities coping with mitigating air pollution:

Results of tur(i)ntogreen International Student Design Competition

2013-02-12T14:09:00-05:00

The winners of the tur(i)ntogreen international design competition were recently announced in Turin, Italy. Organized by the Research and Documentation Center in Technology, Architecture and City in Developing Countries at the Politecnico di Torino, the competition had invited university students [...] to develop new multidisciplinary solutions for a sustainable and inclusive city reflecting on new forms of urban management and regeneration through agro - housing and urban - farming models.