park associati completes luxottica’s new digital factory in milan

‘Luxottica Digital Factory’ finds a home in retrofitted industrial complex 

‘Luxottica Digital Factory’, a world leader in the eyewear industry, finds a new home in Milan, Italy, thanks to Park Associati‘s complete restoration and retrofitting of an industrial complex. Paying the greatest attention to quality, using technologically innovative materials, and seeking cutting-edge architectural solutions, the project becomes an open and flexible container where history, change, and creativity seamlessly converge. While the architects did focus on recreating Luxottica’s modern brand values, they also sought to respect the social fabric of the Milanese neighborhood hosting the new structure.
view of the building from Via Tortona | image © Andrea Martiradonna

an ultra-modern facade paired with uplifted, sleek interiors 

To house the new ‘Luxottica Digital Factory’, Park Associati (see more here) reinterpreted the existing industrial building—formerly a General Electric base—by uplifting its original volumes and character, with contemporary and high-quality additions, both to the facade and interior.

‘The intervention emphasizes the building’s original shapes and lines by eliminating any later internal additions and adapting the building to contemporary safety and sustainability parameters while preserving the excellent reinforced concrete truss design and enhancing the facade’s vertical shape. Furthermore, the casing is the result of technological and structural research aimed at lending the building the greatest transparency and indoor brightness,‘ explains the team.

Speaking of the casing, the ultra-modern facade overlooking Via Tortona consists of a full-height and glazed structure with vertical bronzed metal pilasters echoing the complex’s industrial heritage. Through these glass slices, passersby can catch a glimpse of the interiors, which were completely reinterpreted to accommodate new functions including a showroom, some commercial spaces on the ground floor, and the Digital Lab—a high-tech innovation center on the first floor. 

facade detail | image © Andrea Martiradonna

Designed in collaboration with Storage Milano (see more here), the new Luxottica interiors are bright and comfortable. They also offer ‘green leisure’ and informal meeting areas thanks to the addition of an internal garden on the ground floor and green patios on the first floor. The intervention follows a LEED quality and sustainability protocol and is estimated to be awarded the ‘GOLD’ class. 

facade detail | image © Andrea Martiradonna

main stairs detail | image © Lorenzo Zandri

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courtyard pivot doors detail | image © Lorenzo Zandri

courtyard detail | image © Lorenzo Zandri

project info:

name: Luxottica Digital Factory

location: Milan, Italy

total area: 9,000 sqm

architecture: Park Associati

interiors: Storage Milano

project lead: Michele Rossi, Lorenzo Merloni

design team: Filippo Pagliani, Alessandro Bentivegna, Simone Caimi, Sofia Dalmasso, Valeria Donini, Luna Pavanello, Luca Pazzaglia, Ismail Seleit, Cristina Tudela Molino, Michele Versaci, Marco Vitalini
photography: Lorenzo Zandri, Andrea Martiradonna

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom