WESTMINSTER
RAE 2008, RA2 - H 30
MARTIN, Andrei +
YAU, Andrew
Identifier:
0410830033389
0710830060283
Output 1
(Design)
LEMON FACTORY
Martin, Andrei + Yau, Andrew (2007)
Lemon Factory Extension, near Messina, Siciliy
General Description:
This architectural project by Urban Future Organisation (UFO) - in which both Andrei
Martin and Andrew Yau are senior design figures - is currently on site and is scheduled
for completion in Spring 2008. As a new detached building for the Simone Gatto corpo-
ration, it creates a separate administrative wing being added to an existing factory on
the fringes of San Pier Niceto, a small village in the hills which lie inland from Messina
in north-eastern Sicily. UFO’s project sits adjacent to a production building which is
actually the largest producer in Italy of lemon juice and lemon extracts / essences. The
project brief was for a sequence of flexible spaces in which to house the reception area,
staff offices, meeting spaces and canteen, along with a in-house swimming pool and a
fitness centre. The interior of the building reacts to the requirement to keep the spaces
fluid and able to change their use over time. Since the Lemon Factory Extension sits on
a highly volcanic island that is also susceptible to earthquakes, its structure was carefully
designed to incorporate an innovative anti-seismic strategy.
Urban Future Organization is an internationally networked architectural practice which is
actively involved in advanced digital design and fabrication. Thus in terms of its design,
the Simone Gatto Lemon Factory Extension needs to be understood as part of a line of
projects currently being carried out by UFO and by like-minded designers – such as UN
Studio, Foreign Office Architects or Plasma Studio – which use free-form, fluid and linear
architectural forms. This aim is being pushed forward by the search for new methods of
digital design and manufacturing in architecture. UFO is also known for being a relatively
loose collaborative