Page 202 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 183

A typical example is the Navigli, a former industrial and working-class district,
visually impressive with its canals, bridges, and barges. Students and artists started
moving to Navigli in the 1960s because it was cheap and “rough.” But as of late it
became the heart of fashion businesses and is now as expensive as the classy districts
of central Milan.
During the postwar, difficult years Milan authorities promoted the establishment of
factories and workshops in Via Varesina area. Today, some of these properties have
already been converted into loft apartments and studios, and more are awaiting their
turn. One example in this area is the Pagani factory: until 2003, it was still producing
headlights and other items for scooters. It includes a dozen interlinked buildings—
mostly long, low workshops and warehouses—served by private roads and a couple
of wide squares. In 2003, a group of investors bought the whole factory. Part of the
land was used for The Chedi, a hotel of the Singapore-based GHM chain, together with
a block of short-term service apartments. The rest of the old buildings were split into
lofts of various forms and sizes and sold individually. Most of the Pagani residents
bought an empty, unfinished space, which they completed on their own. In addition
to some 100 residential lofts, the complex houses a theatre workshop, a small televi-
sion studio, a fashion exhibition hall and the studios of a painter and a photographer.
More details on these redevelopments are given in FT (2007).

6.2.2.6 Rome industrial buildings
The heart of the Rome industrial district was the Magazzini Generali (general ware-
houses), built in 1915: a couple of enormous warehouses from which several metal
structures sprout imposingly and extend to the Tiber. Abandoned in 1945, the site
now hosts the Fire Brigade Training Center, with classrooms, training spaces, caf es,
a conference room and company lodgings. Private entrepreneurs built their factories
here. To name a few: Mira (first producing chemicals and fertilizers, then candles and
glycerin, later soaps, and detergents) whose buildings now host the Teatro India
(a theatre offering experimental events); Molini e Panifici Biondi (grain grinding
and floor refining), which now has been reconverted into stylish lofts, the Societa’
Anonima Lavanderia (Laundry) Roma, whose building now hosts the Literature Fac-
ulty of Roma Tre University and the Vetrerie Riunite Bordoni (glass-making), now
hosting the office of Roma Tre University’s Chancellor. Some mention should be
given also to Ex-Mattatoio (former slaughterhouse): this vast complex of wings
and pavilions covers an area of 2.5 ha. Designed in 1888 it distributed meat until
1975 when it was abandoned.
Now it hosts a police office, the Architecture Faculty of Roma Tre University, the
contemporary art museum Macro Testaccio, La Pelanda, another important contem-
porary art venue of the capital and a squat place called Villaggio Globale (Global Vil-
lage). From 2007 in this space there is also the Citta ` dell’Altra Economia (town of a
different economy), a project devoted to themes such as fair trade, organic food,
recycling, renewables, etc. The Rome Gas Holder mentioned in Section 6.2.4 is also
situated in this area (Romeing, 2014). This “Gasometer” is quite popular in the city:
Fig. 6.15 shows a bracelet inspired by this landmark.