Corpo nero

Abstract

In 2016, the Trofa Administration commissioned the NOARQ firm to transform an old food factory into the new Town hall, with the aim of regenerating a disordered urban area. The project preserves the elongated layout of the site, restoring the original 1948 structure and positioning it as the compositional core of the new architecture. From a volumetric perspective, the complex appears as a solid mass that envelops the pre-existing structure, only to reveal it again through a play of excavations and modelling, addressing the needs of the internal space and the dialogue with the landscape. Clad externally in black brick, the complex interacts with its surroundings, referencing local construction traditions and drawing from various contemporary experiences. Inside, a series of large voids and a contrasting materiality create an almost domestic atmosphere. In this predominantly morphological approach, the project expresses a dual nature – tense and angular on the urban side, welcoming within – where material acts as a relational parameter, essential to characterize all spatial elements.