The Crown

Project Details

Project Description

FROM THE ARCHITECTS:

The Crown is a spectacular new landmark that follows from the famous Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud, the first work created by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma in Italy.

Installed near the Casalgrande Padana production facility on two roundabouts situated on the Pedemontana route linking Casalgrande and Sassuolo, the two installations make up a monumental structure of notable architectural merit and symbolic value, creating a sort of “East Access Door” to the Emilian ceramics district.

Libeskind has been involved in a fruitful collaboration with Casalgrande for some time now, which sees the two parties working together in a cycle of formal research and technological development that has already produced some fantastic results: from the cladding systems for the CityLife residences in Milan to the Pinnacle installation for Cersaie – Bologna Water Design 2013, the new series of Fractile ceramic tiles and even the spectacular cladding of the Vanke Pavilion at Expo 2015, with additional façades for notable buildings in several foreign capitals currently underway.

Casalgrande Ceramic Crown bears an unusual three-dimensional structure that experiments with innovative new uses for the latest generation of ceramic parts. Clad entirely with Fractile porcelain stoneware tiles with a raised fractal motif, the structure surges upwards in a spiral measuring 25 metres in height. The shape is pure compositional expression and emphasizes the verticality of a sort of volumetric projection, combining an almost hand-sketched feel with unrivaled construction expertise to show that an ecologically friendly, flexible material such as porcelain stoneware can be used in even the most unexpected context.

Devised as a ventilated façade anchored to an extremely slender, sleek steel structure, The Crown is destined to become a new architectural benchmark in the area around the Casalgrande Padana headquarters.