The proposal for Lamborghini is conceived as a total space that engages the road, distance between two points and measure of the Space and the Time.
The two roundabouts are like two celestial bodies in this “space”, two elements that attract and complete each other, embodying a duality that is part of a whole. A star and a black hole: a bright and a powerful element. The strategy is to occupy the whole space of the roundabouts, an extension of the context, generating a void enclosed into a perimeter: a Rotunda whose limit is an open volume that unveils a specific character.
The Rotunda is a stage for Lamborghini, an active and charged void that represents the potential of a monument that is not just a contemplative object but a space related with the legacy of the House of the Bull therefore with the territory of Sant’ Agata, the experience of the road, the movement, the speed. The project, with its gravity, introduces a new component in the landscape: a variation, a vision, an experience that signs a threshold.
The two Rotundas Torus and Aura are conceived as a regular succession of elements that describe a complete revolution, a prefect shape yet decomposed into parts. In the two interventions, the triangular section of the single element is the same but used differently (rotated 180°) generating two bodies with diverse features.
The size of the rotunda works at a large scale, the scale of the territory and the scale of the monument.
The Rotunda 1 is mysterious and dark, silent yet roaring. It’s related to the idea of the absence, the void, the black hole that absorbs and captures the energies. By night it releases them with a vertical ray of light, a blazar, declaring its presence. It’s made of three parts: Torus - Stage - Iris.
The Torus defines the circular volume made of 130 elements, the stands, which are equally distributed along the rotunda’s circumference protruding towards the center. They are characterized by a V section made of metal sheets with a matte black finish.
The Stage, present in both Rotundas’ central void, is a space for diverse use and occupancies that activates possible scenarios and displays the Lamborghini’s visionary world. The stage produces an immersive setting, the possibility of being part of the monument, of having access to an unkown zone.
Iris is the central ring of the Rotunda 1. It’s the core activated by night, the source of the vertical column of light.
The Rotunda 2 is precious and pure. A star, a body that reflects ad amplifies. It’s made of two parts: Aura - Stage. The Aura defines the circular volume made of 115 elements, the stands, which are equally distributed along the rotunda’s circumference protruding towards the center. The geometry, an inverted V section (a 180° rotated Torus) introduces diverse degrees of reflections and refractions expanding the relation with the context and the experience of driving. The translucent gold finish confers a shine, a visionary character.
At night a bright-rarefied light filters, a glow amplified by the golden reflections.
Category: Infrastructural roundabout
Status: Competition “Lamborghini Road Monument” 2016
Location: Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy
Owner: Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.
Site: To build two architectonic landmarks aimed at marking the entrances of Sant’Agata Bolognese and its plant.
Area: Rotunda1 490m2 - Rotunda2 660m2
Architect: MAR office
Team: Paola Mongiu, Renato Juarez Corso
with Daniele Bonetti, Severino Iritano, Michele Zambetti
Collaborators:
Model: Stefano Goffi
Consulting:
Lighting: Spacecannon SNE
Engineer: Architecnica s.r.l