This proposal by Studio VAARO and Gabriel Fain Architects was submitted to the international competition for the Barilla pavilion at the pasta manufacturer’s headquarters in Pedrignano, Italy. The Toronto-based architects designed a 15,000-square-metre visitors centre as an integral part of the landscape by tucking the building into a hillside and covering it with a green rooftop that’s a continuation of the wheat fields around it. Under this grassy cover, the building’s roofline melds seamlessly into the hillside’s topography, allowing the architects to imperceptibly change the long hall’s profile. At the end closest to the Barilla family home, the building has a gabled roof. At the end closest to the factory, the roof, by contrast, is flat. 

Project Pedrignano Visitors Center Firms Studio VAARO (Canada) and Gabriel Fain Architects (Canada) Team Aleris Rodgers with Gabriel Fain, Francesco Valente-Gorjup, Aron Lorincz Ateliers and Nephew