Demo Area, events premises

Kohler, 2015

Project: landscape design and new architecture.

Thanks to the acquisition of the Lombardini brand in 2012, Kohler created the European headquarters for the “engines” sector in Reggio Emilia. The project foresees a “restyling” of the existing settlement with different typologies of interventions on an area of 170,000 square meters.The Demo Area has been designed to better support events dedicated to showing the performance of engines applied to machines and also becoming a tangible sign of the brand’s dynamism.

mobility refurbishment retail working

In line with the nature of the events, the audience is welcomed into a sort of light structure where the best view of the show is offered. The structure, set in the green, takes the graphic sign “<" used in the brand communication in its form.

Thanks to the design of the two new slopes of the ground, the scenography suitable for the shows is created and the small structure is raised with respect to the street level, thus creating greater relevance in the environmental context.

A system of aluminum frames with a fabric tensioning system is applied to the custom-made structure. The use of the fabric expresses a particular visual lightness that varies in perception depending on the light and allows a partial 360 degree view. The fabric upholstery was customized by printing the background color and the brand logo. This light and versatile material is in architectural continuity with the entire architectural intervention of the industrial district being the same used for the facades of buildings.