antonio saporito architecture + design florence

Barilla Pavilion

2018 Parma, Italy

The history of the Barilla industry began in 1877 when Pietro Barilla opened a workshop of bread and pasta
in Parma, giving rise successes and innovations that, over the years, led the company to gain a very
important role in Italy and in the world.
The new building comes from this ancient identity through its historic logo, which thus becomes the vital
seed capable of generating volumes and architectural and innovative spaces of great visual and
scenographic impact. We propose an architecture that offers a new vision of an ancient purely Italian
wisdom through curvilinear elements, purity of mirrors, smells, tastes and fusion with the surrounding
historical environment.

The history of the Barilla industry began in 1877 when Pietro Barilla opened a workshop of bread and pasta
in Parma, giving rise successes and innovations that, over the years, led the company to gain a very
important role in Italy and in the world.
The new building comes from this ancient identity through its historic logo, which thus becomes the vital
seed capable of generating volumes and architectural and innovative spaces of great visual and
scenographic impact. We propose an architecture that offers a new vision of an ancient purely Italian
wisdom through curvilinear elements, purity of mirrors, smells, tastes and fusion with the surrounding
historical environment.
The new Barilla pavilion welcomes visitors and employees through a parking area and a large square
located in front of the main building with a play of shapes and colors that lead us to the entrance. The
project stands out in its function and form with a U-shaped type of plant, exploiting its maximum height
with a blue flap covering identifying the well-known company ideally generating the shape of a large
container box of pasta that emerges from the ground.
The interior of the pavilion explains the Barilla world to the visitors, through sensory and cultural
experiences, narrating the story of the company and bringing them in contact with the smells and tastes of
Italian tradition and innovation in the food sector. The volume is divided into 4 floors, including a
basement, dedicated to the cultural experience of the Barilla museum, which offers a collection of its
history and an interactive museum area, with access to the court, center of the building, from which,
through a ramp, we can access the vegetable gardens, the pavilion's zero km. production.
On the ground floor, visitors will be welcomed in the main hall, where they will find all the indications to
make the most of the Barilla experience, with areas dedicated to interactive workshops for creating and
processing pasta and Barilla products, such as the production of sauces, products with zero km. vegetables,
coming directly from the pavilion itself. At the same floor they can access to the new big store.