184 Prada le Cure, Production Centre and Warehouse

Project: 2000-2001

Process

The new production center, where leather is cut and outsourced.

The site near an expressway on the outskirts of Florence is opposite the Gucci works.

The irregularly shaped site recalls a piece of cut-out leather. Bends and folds lend the volume figurative expres- siveness, at times lifting it from the ground; cut-outs inside the building link the facade and the interior while also structuring the layout.

The production center beckons to the expressway with an electronic billboard displaying the Prada logo; the cut-outs are reiterated in the wall of a newly planted olive grove.

On the predominantly open-plan upper floor: cutting, product control, offices and canteen. The typology of the cut-out, in varying heights and sizes, is reiterated in the layout, the facade apertures and the atriums.

Drawings

Team

Partners: Jacques Herzog; Pierre de Meuron; Christine Binswanger (Partner in Charge)
Project Team: Mathis Tinner (Associate, Project Architect); Marco Volpato (Project Architect); Massimo Corradi; Alain Gameiro; Diana Garay; Martin Krapp; Gerrit Christopher Sell; Adrien Verschuere

Facts

Client: Prada / I Pellettieri d’Italia SPA
Planning: General Planning: Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.r.I., Mirano-Zianigo, Venezia, Italy; Design Architect: Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland; Executive Architect: Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.r.I., Mirano-Zianigo, Venezia, Italy; Structural Engineering: Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.r.I., Mirano-Zianigo, Venezia, Italy; Structural Engineering: Conzett, Bronzini, Gartmann AG, Chur, Switzerland; Mechanical Engineering: Manens Intertecnica Consulenza e Progettazione Impianti Technici, Verona, Italy; Landscape Design: Michel Desvigne, Paris, France
Specialist / Consulting: Facade Consulting: Emmer Pfenninger Partner AG, Münchenstein, Switzerland; Acoustics: Manens Intertecnica Consulenza e Progettazione Impianti Technici, Verona, Italy
Building Data: Site Area: 327'760 sqft, 30'450 sqm; Footprint: 116'034 sqft, 10'780 sqm; Gross volume (GV): 2'432'476 cbft, 68'880 cbm
Links: www.prada.com

Bibliography

Gerhard Mack, Herzog & de Meuron: “Herzog & de Meuron 1997-2001. The Complete Works. Volume 4.” Edited by: Gerhard Mack. Basel / Boston / Berlin, Birkhäuser, 2008. Vol. No. 4.

Nobuyuki Yoshida (Ed.): “Architecture and Urbanism. Herzog & de Meuron 2002-2006.” Tokyo, A+U Publishing Co., Ltd., 08.2006.

Herzog & de Meuron: “Prada Aoyama Tokyo. Herzog & de Meuron.” Edited by: Germano Celant. 2nd ed. Milan, Progetto Prada Arte srl, 2003.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Natural History.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. 2nd ed. Baden, Lars Müller, 2005.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Naturgeschichte.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. 2nd ed. Baden, Lars Müller, 2005.

“Herzog & de Meuron. Histoire Naturelle.” Edited by: Philip Ursprung. Exh. Cat. “Herzog & de Meuron. Archaeology of the Mind.” Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal. 23 October 2002 – 6 April 2003. Baden, Lars Müller, 2002.