The photo-and repro equipment company Durst launched a competition for a new show and education centre adject to its factory in an Alpine valley in Northern Italy.

Existing and proposed: the site as cohesive structure
We opted out of creating a separate solitary object in favour of using the proposal instrumentally to reorganize the approach to the whole complex and to communicate a new dynamic image.
The existing parking lot pattern and other structural demands were translated into a grid that was then confronted with the ambition to retain as many existing trees as possible. Hence the irregularities within the tree pattern induced deformations and disturbances, establishing a new identity- richer than the existing orthogonal, mechanically derived factory and parking patterns- but still intrinsically intertwined with them.
The new pattern was then reprogrammed with parking paces, pedestrian routes, artificial landscaping as well as surfaces for the application of the companies range of outdoor products. As a whole experienced from the motorway that passes the building at a higher altitude, the new intervention performs as a large-scale fluctuating graphical image.

Spatial and programmatic organisation
In order to connect the new Picture Art House with the existing factory we proposed a new shared entrance for both.
Whilst this enables an efficient coordination of staff and resources, more importantly anyone- client, visitor or worker- will be greeted by a spatial experience that stemmed from a rigorous play with perspective, horizon line, and ever changing vantage points.
The Picture Art House is organized as a continous loop that unfolds along internal and external spaces as gradually changing volumes, proportions and directionalities with manifold fluctuating visual relationships. The route of the main exhibition thus stretches between the external space in front, into the foyer, through a dedicated gallery area and out into the courtyard and back into the foyer.
In this manner, the traditional boundaries between inside and outside become replaced by an everchanging dynamic oscillation that connects the two realms.