Combining living with public art to update the beauty of the city
The Building Group was founded in Turin in 1983 by the Boffa family; Pietro, with his son Luca, now leads the company with the aim of creating architectures that stand out from serial production, through the direct management of the entire process, from the acquisition of areas to the design, construction, marketing and administration of properties held to assets. In recent years, the Building group has also increased its activities in civil and residential construction, specializing in the recovery and transformation of historic buildings, conceiving its own concept of living history.
In the heart of Turin, Building has acquired three historic buildings – dating back to the Baroque, Neoclassical and ecclesiastical architecture of the 16th century – transforming them into contemporary condominiums in which reconversion is combined with design, cuisine, fashion and above all the public art: a patron spirit for the good and beauty of the city. The Number 6, completed in 2013, is the transformation of Palazzo Valperga Galleani, historic gem of Piedmontese Baroque, winner of ArchDaily’s Building of the Year 2015, the world’s most widely read architecture site, for the Restoration category. “The most beautiful house in the world” in Via Alfieri 6 has been awarded as a combination of existing conservation, public art and interior design. In June 2016, on the other side of Piazza San Carlo, Building inaugurated Lagrange12, recovery of a seventeenth-century building, between Lagrange and Giolitti streets: a balance between ancient forms, avant-garde domotics and innovative comfort. The architects of Building and Pininfarina worked together to design seven exclusive apartments, a multi-brand luxury store and two penthouses, with a panoramic terrace overlooking the heart of the city. In the common areas of the two houses, Building has commissioned several interventions to the artist of light Richi Ferrero: the most famous is the courtyard in Via Alfieri where a large tree illuminates the courtyard recalling the pre-existing Baroque Garden. The courtyard, visited by hundreds of people a month and included in the Luci d´Artista itinerary, has become a real attraction for sightseeing in Turin. In Via Lagrange 12 at the top of the attic building, the artist laid Equinox, a sculpture that represents a lookout of the city: the light of the work redesigns the profile of the Turin night, ideally joining the Great Warrior (private collection) and to Sagittaurus (commissioned by Bulding), which from corso Matteotti and corso Massimo D’Azeglio form a triad of sculptures that the artist defines as << lookouts of the mental territory >>. For the Lagrange12 courtyard, the artist has created a railing, a tribute to Fortunato DePero’s futurism, which will soon be available to the public during daylight hours. The dialogue with art has accompanied Lagrange12 since the beginning of the restoration through Creatività Bene Comune, a project curated by Building and the Academy of Fine Arts: the building site of the building turned into a laboratory and an open air museum thanks to the involvement of a group of students who, thinking about the “good” theme of the 2014 International Book Fair, produced 12 large canvases. At the end of the construction, the works were auctioned in favor of AIN Onlus, the Childhood Nephropathic Association, and Vivere onlus, Association of Volunteers and Families with children with Handicap
At the beginning of 2016, Building started work on Quadrato, an operation in the epicenter of the Roman quadrilateral, in Via delle Orfane on the corner of Via Santa Chiara, which contains the remains of the former Convent of Sant ‘Agostino, dating back to the mid-16th century. Quadrato aspires to become the condominium of the best contemporary youth, a dynamic class of young professionals, PhD students, commuters of knowledge and anyone who chooses Turin for a medium term. Inside the ancient rooms of the convent will be transformed into apartments, monotype, bitipo, tritipo in a range of size between 40 and 60 square meters. An investment property in the most historic heart of the city, between Piazza della Consolata and the alleys of the Quadrilatero, a few steps from Piazza della Repubblica, the Porta Palazzo market, the beating heart of multi-ethnic Turin. The works will be completed by the end of 2018.