Nestlé-owned soft drink maker San Pellegrino has chosen Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) to design a 17,000 square metre headquarters and factory in northern Italy.
The firm beat three other "starchitects" to the prize: Rotterdam-based MVRDV, Oslo’s Snøhetta and Architetto Michele De Lucchi of Milan.
The design of the $95m project was influenced by the natural surroundings of San Pellegrino Terme, a municipality in Lombardy where mineral water has been produced for 600 years.
BIG’s commented that its proposal "offers a fresh take on an ancient wisdom, revisiting the classic elements of Italian architecture and urbanism: the arcade, the viale, the piazza and the portico create an architectural environment where production and consumption, nature and architecture, outside and inside".
The design of the beverage maker’s factory and "experience lab" is influenced by "Italian Classicism and Rationalism" as is described as the "aquatic equivalent of a wine cellar".
The offices and the Experience Lab will be built in 2018.
Images courtesy of BIG
