Varigrafica Printing Factory

PrizeHonorable Mention in Architectural Design /
Firm LocationRome, Italy
CompanyMassimo Adario Architetto
Design TeamCarla Arrabito, Javier Narváez Martínez, Michele Dicembrino
Projecthttp://

The printing company Varigrafica first opened for business in Nepi (Italy), in the sixties; the first factory dates back to 1992 and was dedicated to the offset printing for the production of editorial and advertising material. The expansion of this industrial building, gave rise to the present configuration of the complex, an aggregation of volumes of different sizes, each of them corresponding to a functional scope. In addition to the two existing buildings, four others were added. In response to the industrial printing process, highly organized and planned, the industrial complex is rationally built on the basis of a 2,40 x 6,00 mt module, repeated and utilized in different configuration: one module is the vertical prefabricated concrete panel used for the façades of the existing building and the paper warehouse, the same concrete module is placed horizontally for the façades of the new production area, and another module yet is made of glass with a metal brise soleil for the façades of the offices. Each module has the same dimensions. Module and sub-modules are also repeated inside the building, in the offices, in the design of the roof slab and of the floor and also in the concrete bearing walls. In contrast with the building, designed according to orthogonal lines, the design of the garden is free-flowing and linked to the topography of the site; slight differences/slopes of the land have been designed to reproduce the original natural lay of the terrain and various species of autochthonous trees present in the adjacent forests, such as oak, maple, wild cherry etc., have been planted. This green system also enters inside the building and becomes a courtyard overlooked by both the offices and the new production area, so that the five buildings rotate around it.