Project Description
The 2016 “It4Fashion” edition was held in the “Manifattura Tabacchi”, a former tobacco factory built in Florence (Italy) in 1933-1940 and abandoned since 2000. In this post-industrial context the 5,000 square meter exhibition’s set up was designed by Studio Lauria, an italian firm skilled in exhibition design and recovering abandoned urban areas.
The intervention of major architectural significance and visual impact was the design of the access ramp leading visitors to the reception through a large entrance plaza. The ramp runs between two wooden walls, colored in white in the lower part and covered with metal panels in the upper one. The two parts are divided by a colored strip that marks the flow of the ramp. The start point of the ramp is characterized by two monolithic blocks coated of iron plates, burnished and slightly oxidized. It is a direct reference to the features of the factory and also a tribute to Richard Serra.