Detour Pit Stop #61: Lingotto, Turin, Italy
The former FIAT factory in the heart of Turin now has a giant public garden where its rooftop test track once saw thousands of cars put through their paces.
Opened in 1926 Lingotto was Europe’s most advanced car factory, employing over 12,000 workers to build cars including the iconic Topolino and Fiat 500. In all some 80 different models were produced during the plant’s 56 years of operation
Production ended at Lingotto in 1982 (with the Lancia Delta) and the building was reinvented in the 1990s by architect Renzo Piano who created a “city within a city” with a shopping mall, hotel, a huge auditorium, a bubble-shaped panoramic meeting space and the Pinacoteca Agnelli art collection.
Inside the incredible curved ramps to the rooftop circuit have been retained, but gone are the days when the sounds of internal combustion could be heard. Now the only vehicles allowed on Lingotto’s roof are electric.
"Because of its memory, the idea of a test track has been preserved and transformed into a track only for electric vehicles," architect Benedetto Camerana told Dezeen. "So the clean cars can drive gently in between the green islands, looking for a new harmony between mobility and nature."
La Pista 500 garden is host to some 40,000 plants in a collection of 28 green islands that contain more than 300 different species and is open to the public.
“It's not just a contemplative garden, we designed it with public functions in mind and relaxing areas for learning activities related to edible and colour-dyeing plants," he added.
Lingotto is a truly spectacular building with a fascinating history and it’s heartwarming to see it being continually developed instead of being demolished like so many other car plants.