The project to upgrade the Cartiere del Garda meets the needs of the company to put forward a new architectural image appropriate for the development of the production lines undertaken, in a quality process where resources are optimized and the environmental impact is reduced.
The architect Giorgio Losi came up with a new design with an innovative form that combines the typological and morphological appraisal of the existing context with a compositional interpretation of the forms and a completely original façade rhythm for an industrial structure. The designer identifies, moreover, the technological solutions for the usability of the functions hosted and to reduce acoustic emissions in some parts of the building used for production.
The design adopted allows the entire complex to be unified with a single architectural language, in contrast to the fragmentary nature of the elements of the old construction, and at the same time it provides a fitting response in terms of performances.
The project of renovating the existing structure, which has a notable heights (about 15 meters) compared to the small buildings of the surrounding urban landscape, was resolved with the application of modules of linear “skin” that creates the formal expression of the whole plant.
The choice of the materials to be used for the envelope are based on two basic requirements: the quality of the building and the consistency of performance due to the industrial processing, with the aim of reducing maintenance costs and to amortize the initial investment.
The cladding of the façade was, therefore, conceived to be in harmony with contemporary designs of industrial architecture, where materials and systems are introduced that are capable of providing uniformity and unity to the building fronts.
For this project, in relation to the properties of the characteristics required in the façades, the decision was to use aluminium with a light colored opaque coating, a material that is widely used also in environments with high temperature ranges and the presence of wind, and is also suitable for the particular weather conditions of Riva del Garda.
The envelope system with considerable aesthetic quality was realized with the pre-painted F22 aluminum produced by Novelis, a leading company in the sector of rolled material and coil coating.
The excellent mechanical properties and hardness of FF2, designed for the construction industry, have facilitated the production of the components and allowed the façade to become perfectly in line with the desired architectural outcome.

To differentiate and vary the perception of the relationship between empty and full, and to “move” the composition of the volumes, divisions were designed with panels of different modules, always linear, but with different heights and colors.
The rhythm of the façades, made with aluminium components, is dictated by the vertical wood columns that also act as a support structure; in fact they are joined to the columns of the pre-existing structure.
The wood was selected as an element that gives character to the new façade since it is a reference to the material first used in the production of paper: the “father” of cellulose here assumes a symbolic role that is reflected in the outside of the building.
In line with the existing window openings, that are kept so as not to alter the aeration-lighting ratio, the brise-soleil, with horizontal aluminium staves, create a play of light and shade.
The original solution adopted for the volumes at the corners of the construction, that are highlighted with the use of ff2 panels with trapezoidal shapes which bear the logo of Cartiere del Garda, allows the new structure to be seen from the city.
The solution conceived for the structural parts of the envelope is completely new. The substructure of uprights and cross-beams of the aluminium façade puts its loads not on the cladding behind, but on the wood pillars at the ends, which rest on the ground with a fascinatingly designed clamp.
The lamellar wooden pillars, with trapezoidal shapes, like the masts of a ship are anchored and joined to the load-bearing structure behind and rest on iron brackets, in their turn anchored to the main support structure of the storage building. The bracket element acts as a support and is used to protect the façade and prevent accidental bumps from vehicles.
At the highest point of the building there is a spandrel made of aluminium that behaves as an “acoustic deflector” for any sound wave coming into the gap between the wall and the external structure.
The greatest difficulty was in the area called “Beloit Off Line”; in which it was necessary to preserve and facilitate the usability of the numerous apertures, of varying considerable dimensions set at significant heights. These apertures were necessary for extracting individual systems of the paper production process. Also the properties of the envelope system in this case had to guarantee the requirement of noise abatement of 30dB, measured on site at the end of the work.
Wit this scope the substructures were designed with large openable parts, made to measure using appropriate hinge systems that could house both the cladding panels as well as the acoustic barrier made of special metallic panels introduced between the new outer skin and the existing wall.
The effectiveness of a renovation process of this size is connected not only to the indispensable requisites that have to be met through a careful choice of materials for construction systems, but also to the method of working and organizing the building site.
The sharing of the design decisions between Cartiere del Garda, the architect Giorgio Losi, the contracting company Premetal, through its internal technical office, and Novelis. Resulted indispensable.

The role of Premetal Spa, a leading company in designing and making ”made to measure” civil and industrial buildings using the latest metallic construction systems, was decisive in the executive and construction planning, as also in the selection of the components and the most congenial processing.
New technology permitted the creation of the 2 mm thick FF2 Novelis aluminium box panels. The workshop processing was carried out using cutting and trimming with an LVD pantograph and bending with a robot system. Such an avant-garde process proved to be indispensable for all the circular façade joints.
The ventilated aluminium façade provides for 0.8 - 1.2 mm drilled sheet metal aeration grills, and mounded sheet metal for flashings at the window openings, at the projections of the technological systems and at the top of the buildings.
While this type of façade is repeated for the north and east faces, via Filanda and via Padova, an important variation was brought to the southern face.
The front on viale Rovereto, the southern face, features a more complex type of group of buildings that have different functions, ranging from a production facility, to an administration building and a storage structure.
The presence of the administration building suggested a different architectonic approach, with a more representative solution that demonstrates to the visitor its centrality.
In this case the aluminium panels were replaced by natural larchwood panels and the central pillars, wood laminate again, rest on a cantilever roof that runs to the level of the first floor.
The grills, in line with the window holes, are made of larchwood inserted inside the mirror-glass faces that are supported by metallic uprights with small connecting systems between materials.
The central fulcrum of the main access is crowned by a roof supported by “spindles”, the shafts of sailboats, tapered to the supports that hold the wooden shutter on the façade: the roofing is made of aluminium sheet with the same properties as the façade panels.
The whole project was made possible thanks to the efficient organization of Premetal in the building site stages. Indeed, the usual business of Cartiere carried on without any problems and the construction work had to respect the obligations concerning the environmental impact of the work on the surrounding area and on the tourist industry (hotels and service flats adjoining the factory), without neglecting internal safety regulations and Cartiere del Garda Environmental Quality.
Such a system for renovating could be, then, easily transferred to other designs with the same very positive outcome both in terms of image and performance, also with a control in investment costs.