FABRICA by Tadao Ando

Eight years have passed since Luciano Benetton, founder of Benetton Group, and I first started talking about Fabrica, the communications research centre where young people from all over the world, whose interests cover a wide range of artistic disciplines, work together. "A place," he says, "for reciprocal learning, in the truest sense of the phrase".

At the beginning I had misgivings about the distance between Japan and Italy, but when I visited the company and saw how determined its chairman was, I was deeply impressed and decided to take on the job. "We like to carry out our activities while valuing and respecting our environment", Luciano Benetton has stated. The Group's headquarters is an excellent example of this approach: the historic Villa Minelli in Ponzano had been restored and fitted out in line with the requirements of the modern workplace, while the enormous car park has been built below ground level thus avoiding an impact on the environment. To those who were born and raised in an area where beautiful villas and ancient palazzi are part of the landscape, it seems only natural to conserve this legacy for future generations.

So the plan for Fabrica came to me spontaneously. There was, in fact, a seventeenth-century villa and several outbuildings already on the site. To allow the scenery and the memory of the environment to continue to flourish, and to restore the existing building and give it new life, I planned most of the new installation underground so as to highlight the beauty of the landscape. However, uniting the architecture of the past and that of the present does not simply mean representing the two extremes. Ancient architecture can be restored respecting its character, so that the history it embodies will stay alive; at the same time the new area can respond to this history in its own, equally unique, way.

There is architecture of the past and the present here; the two put their trust in, and draw inspiration from, each other. The role of the new architecture is to bring out the charm and strength of the ancient villa and to give birth to a reciprocal, cathartic relationship between old and new in an atmosphere of complete harmony, transcending the limits of a specific period. Therefore, even the transit areas, which normally play a secondary or insignificant role, have been given due attention. They act as places for communion and communication between people, between people and history or nature; places which encourage dialogue between people from different backgrounds. They take the shape of squares atriums, and galleries, distributed throughout the area. Natural elements, such as light and wind, have been invited to become part of the architecture so they may mitigate contrasts.

I have always believed that the very nature of architecture gives it an important social function and that it is the fruit of a collective commitment. Apart from a few rare examples, architecture cannot be created without a true process of collaboration. The architect is immersed in the historical and social context that surrounds him and he interprets his awareness in his work. In less abstract terms, the building, starting from the construction site, grows and takes shape through the contribution of all those - workmen and engineers - who work on it. People involved in building should have a vision of the overall plan, not just of their individual job, if the best results are to be achieved. When I saw the people working on the Fabrica construction site I was highly stimulated; their passion for "building", in the broadest sense of the word, particularly impressed me. When I talked to them I realised that they had understood my, and the client's, vision and that they could visualise both the overall project and the role of each individual. They are proud of what they build, therefore they put passion into their work.

It gave me pleasure to see that the skill of architects of the past, such as Carlo Scarpa, lives on in the quality of the work of the craftsmen who did the Venetian stucco, and also in the work of the engineers whose set cement is just as good as the best Japanese cement-work. This is demonstrated by the walls cast five years ago that have preserved their original quality. Lastly, something which is even more significant: I could see, in the people who built Fabrica, the equivalent of "yutori", a Japanese concept which expresses the innate freedom within the process of creation. A concept which our modern society seems to have lost in its quest for economic and productive growth, yet here, I feel, it is still highly appreciated.

As I look back on this work - which started in 1992 and was suspended from 1994 to 1999 because of various set-backs regarding the local and regional councils' planning permission procedures - I cannot help thinking how far we have travelled to date. As an architect, it has been a very long time since I looked forward, with such eager impatience, to the completion of a project.

Villorba, 21st September 2000