INDUSTRIA TESSILE BOSSI A CAMERI, GREGOTTI-MENEGHETTI-STOPPINO, 1968. DIBATTITI E PROPOSTE PER LA CONSERVAZIONE E IL RIUSO

The subject of how twentieth-century architecture ages is highly complex and detailed. But the problem is not only decay: it is also a question of the significance and values that the architectural work acquires (or loses) over time. The decision to demolish the buildings designed by important 20th century architects (residential estates, industrial complexes, single buildings, ...) is not only link to the poor conditions and the need to transformation of the city but is more complex. First, we should consider that no owner would give up a prized object with an economic value without a convincing reason. Here we are dealing with a process in which the architectural product progressively undergoes changes and loses its significance. It is evident, for example, that in the collective imagination there is nothing that so much suggests featureless and blighted suburbs as the concept of “concrete architecture” of second half of 20th century. Drabness, seriality, reinforced concrete produced cheaply, create a series of preconceptions which disturb, and sometimes distort, our reading and understanding of works that draw their strength from experimentation, variation in repetition, construction techniques and modular coordination. It is the case of Bossi Factory, a textile industry founded at the end of 19th century in Cameri near Novara in the north of Italy. A new building used for the spinning department was designed by Vittorio Gregotti, Lodovico Meneghetti, Giotto Stoppino in 1968. In 2013 the Bossi factory closed and began a progressive dismantling of equipment and a consequent decay of abandoned buildings. Some parts of the complex were sold, and a recent project transform the area for the construction of a new residential district that involves the demolition of the spinning factory designed by Gregotti. Many complaints by architects, cultural associations and local communities have led to a more in-depth reflections on the theme of the enhancement and reuse of the architecture of the late 20th century. The knowledge of architecture and specific strategy of reuse could contribute to a process aimed at the enhancement and conservation of these buildings, to ensure that they continue to represent a ”stage of thought”.