Ivrea Industrial City of the Twentieth Century UNESCO Candidate

Ivrea has presented an unusual candidacy, because “Ivrea Industrial City of the Twentieth Century” nominates for UNESCO World Heritage Status not just a single building of value but an entire industrial system constructed by Adriano Olivetti.
Ivrea was intended to be a model community proposing an alternative to typical industrial development in the 20th century, including not just workshops and offices but homes and centres for social services.
Projects that fit into a wide-ranging plan for the city for which Adriano Olivetti brought important architects and urban planners of the day to Ivrea. These included Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini, who between 1934 and 1940 planned the expansion of the original factory, and between 1955 and 1959 worked on the new social services centre. Architects Roberto Gabetti and Aimaro Isola designed Talponia, a housing development built between 1969 and 1975 with a semi-circular layout that fit into the hill, that was named after the talpa, Italian for mole.

To promote the city’s candidacy, currently under examination in Paris, the National Committee set up in 2008 and promoted by Fondazione Adriano Olivetti in collaboration with the City of Ivrea and Politecnico di Milano has produced a vast dossier accompanied by a rich collection of images by photographer Gianluca Giordano.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Images courtesy of Ivrea Città Industriale del XX Secolo, photos by Gianluca Giordano

www.ivreacittaindustriale.it

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