About
Previously an avant-garde auto factory with a test track on the roof, the Lingotto building is now an entertainment complex.
This huge arcade of shops, concert halls and entertainment outlets appears to have been built primarily to amuse the local community. The building was originally designed and built for the car manufacturer Fiat, as a factory that would employ thousands of workers from the city of Turin. The factory’s proximity to the railway was key—raw materials would arrive by rail to the lowest floors of the building to become the basis of the construction of automobiles. These raw materials would be fashioned into car components, which would then be transported to the second floor where construction could begin. Cars would slowly begin to take shape as they were elevated up to the higher levels of the building until they reached the very top, where a complete car would emerge onto the roof, the most iconic feature of the building.
