The largest roof garden in Europe sits upon the former Fiat factory in Turin, around a rooftop test track that hosts exciting art and architecture
WORDS ANNIE GUILFOYLE PHOTOGRAPHS CLAIRE TAKACS
The former Fiat factory building, Lingotto, is named after the district in Turin where it was built in 1923. Designed by architect Giacomo Mattè-Trucco, it was not only the largest car factory of the time but also a ground-breaking design. Le Corbusier, a pioneer of modern architecture, described it as ‘one of the most impressive sights in industry’. Inspired by the Ford assembly lines, it was constructed over five floors, with raw materials entering at ground level and emerging on to the rooftop test track as fully finished cars. More than 80 different models of Fiat were produced there before it closed in 1982. Once the factory closed, there was much debate over the fate of this iconic building, so a competition was launched. Architect Renzo Piano won with his vision of a modern multi-use complex that included a hotel, shopping centre, university faculty, theatre and convention centre. The rooftop test track remains, used by Fiat to put electric cars through their paces.
Keen to reinforce its commitment to sustainability, in 2019 Fiat commissioned architect Benedetto Camerana to create a masterplan for the largest roof garden in Europe and landscape architect Cristiana Ruspa from Giardino Segreto to design the planting. It was a challenging brief, as Fiat wanted to retain the test track, so the garden would have to work around it.
But this is a 1920s building, and unlike New York’s High Line – the elevated park on a former freight rail line, which was extensively reinforced and rebuilt to facilitate the planting – this rooftop space, known as La Pista 500, is basically a road on a roof with a relatively low weight-bearing capacity that could not be altered in any way. Cristiana was asked to create a garden where the plants seem naturally to have been “blown in on the wind”.
The result is impressive, especially given the shallow substrate, some brutal climatic conditions and the restrictive nature of the brief. At street level there is no hint of what is to come, but excitement builds as you travel up to the roof in the lift, and as the doors slide open you get the first glimpse of a
