Gucci’s new Milan headquarters transforms an abandoned aircraft factory

Gucci has opened a new headquarters in Milan, Italy, designed by architects Piuarch, transforming a former Caproni aircraft factory. The renovated and extended industrial structure built in 1915 has become a hub for its offices as well as a runway, showroom and restaurant.

The renovation aims to celebrate the original features of the building. This includes the abandoned warehouses with brick facades, which offer large open floor plans, and the hangar, originally used for the final assembly of the aircraft. The latter is now being used to host fashion shows, including the current Milan Fashion Week show. A new six-storey, glass tower has been added, coated in rows of sunshades, which mirror the repetitive patterns of the warehouses around it. Piuarch says the new building’s facade design “breaks down the site’s symmetry and generates a powerful chromatic relationship with the red-coloured exposed bricks of the low-level warehouses”.

The 30,000 square metre complex also features a covered outdoor plaza connecting the hangar with the street, and is home to a tree-lined square and gardens. The label’s new HQ is a highly sustainable project with renewable energy sources on site, which the architect says will save Gucci 25% on energy costs.