Perfetti Van Melle Factory

In 2004 Perfetti van Melle, an important Italian private capital corporation and one of the world’s leading chewing gum and candy manufacturers, decided to expand its first historical plant in Lainate, a few kilometres north of Milan. The technological evolution and the substantial increase of the production made it necessary to redesign the whole industrial compound, which had grown over the years by juxtaposition of parts, but without a true overall plan. The idea has been to build a new central warehouse for the stocking of all products made in this section, as well as to organize the management offices by concentrating them in a new office building. The area available for this expansion has been the one north of the existing plant, traditionally considered to represent the rear side of the compound. The plan for the expansion and general reorganization therefore entailed a 180-degree rotation of the whole manufacturing system and a relocation of the barycentre of the industrial complex and the consequent move of the entrance for personnel and vehicles and a complete redesign of the way in which the finished products are managed and stored. The result is much more than a mere solution to a technical and functional problem: the new buildings have become the symbol of the company, identifying the brand not only with its products but also with its historical headquarters, which finally face the city they have always belonged to. The significance of the project therefore goes beyond the borders of the plant, both in terms of the size of the project and of the social and economic values that tie Perfetti van Melle to the town of Lainate. The central issue tackled by Archea has consisted of translating certain corporate values as quality, respect for the environment and for work and technological innovation into an architectural aggregate that satisfy the technical and productive requirements to the greatest possible degree, but that at the same time reflected these values.