Workscapes. Le fabbriche Olivetti e la costruzione del paesaggio

Work-scapes. The olivetti factories and the construction of landscape. This essay traces the settlement principles adopted in the design of the Olivetti factories in Ivrea and Pozzuoli. The two case studies, so different in their genesis and outcomes, are similar in their ability to establish a clear relationship with the existing landscape, capable of re-signifying territorial specificities and indicating new development guidelines. The recent reconversions of the two factories endorse the idea of landscape established through the project, and attest to the flexibility of the two settlements. The hypothesis is that this versatility is guaranteed not only by the architectural quality inherent in the individual buildings, but also by the ability of the settlements to weld the hierarchies of relational systems to angled interpretations of geographical contexts. The factories of Ivrea and Pozzuoli build the founding principles of the reference territories. In this sense they hold the identity values for the settled communities. The two case studies are an alternative to the traditional idea of industry consisting of the closed and introverted enclosure. They affirm that the factory can be an integral, if not fundamental, part of a landscape