57
56 PEDRALI
Two rhetorical figures constantly reappear in
the architecture of the first machine age: the
exposed structural frame’s one and the curtain
wall’s one. However, the wall that protects
Pedrali’s new automated warehouse designed
by CZA in Mornico al Serio does not aim to be the
representation of its inner content - a perfect
mechanism, where the path for the robot carts
cuts through the shelving structures like a canyon
- but rather to be a visual screen that responds
to the diverse conditions of the surrounding
landscape.
Over time, Pedrali’s success as a business and
its awareness in the field of production cycle
sustainability has generated a building complex of
great environmental quality, within a landscape
where the agricultural matrices are still strongly
present. The mass of the new automated
warehouse, whose height and volume are
totally determined by its inner technical devices,
completes the southern side of the complex and
flanks the path of the ancient Via Francesca.
The architectural response of the new warehouse
reacts to the abstract theme of “wrapping” the
machines it contains with a specific response
that is strongly related to the context, to solar
orientation and to the industrial complex it
belongs to. Its primary solid mass is articulated by
two volumetric projections. The first, in its south-
west corner, concludes the visitors’ path inside the
complex and picks up the direction of the canal
that forms the western boundary of the perimeter.
The second projects out from the north-east
corner with a daring cantilever, stripping back
a part of the warehouse wall to reveal its inner
mechanisms through a large glass plate, giving
form to the missing side of the large loading
yard and providing a visual target point from the
entrance to the offices on the northern margin.
A lower body connects the new warehouse to the
existing ones, and hosts the long green ribbon of
the suspended visitors’ path.
All four sides of the new warehouse are faced by
panels in natural aluminum colour. On these, a
series of simple elements made with extruded
aluminum profiles generates a visual pattern
formed by a combination of vertical and oblique
lines, like gigantic “blades of grass” that give
rhythm, scale and measure to the blind and
unarticulated surface of the facades, especially
the large surface to the south. These elements
have been left in their natural aluminum colour
on the side oriented to the east, looking towards
the urban core of Mornico, while the western side,
which faces the fields and the artificial canal, has
been enameled in three different shades of green.
The interplay of the length, direction and intensity
of the shadows of these “blades” over the course
of the day, combined with the mix of their colour
and the diversity of point of view they can be
seen from, generates a true “optical spectacle”
of great beauty. The reflection of the tones of the
coloured sides on the opposite ones left in natural
aluminum colour generates a very peculiar
iridescent effect - similar to the one of the wings
of a butterfly or the elytra of a beetle - for those
travelling on the road from east to west.
The dull and uniform volume of new warehouse
is thus transformed into a visual phenomenon
rich in variations, a kind of natural “amplifier” of
the time of the day and the seasons. In certain
moments it dissolves into the misty sky, reflecting
its grey-blue tones, and in others it becomes
imbued with the bright green of the agricultural
fields in spring. The architectural design of the
warehouse and its related spaces goes beyond
the concept of pure “environmental mitigation”
applied to many industrial facilities. Instead,
it becomes an important signal of the roots of
Pedrali and the people who work there in their
specific territory, as well as testifies their ability
to dialogue with the increasingly globalized
businesses and markets.
Cino Zucchi
A visual pattern formed
by a combination of
vertical and oblique lines
like gigantic “blades of
grass” that give rhythm,
scale and measure to the
blind and unarticulated
surface of the facades,
rethinking the concept of
environmental insertion
in an innovative way
Un pattern visivo formato
da una combinazione di
linee verticali ed oblique,
quasi dei giganteschi
“fili d’erba” che ritmano
e danno misura alla
superficie delle facciate,
ripensando in modo
innovativo e propositivo
il concetto di mitigazione
ambientale
