production architecture shaped by landscape, craft and citrus culture
| Project Location | San Pier Niceto, Messina, Italy |
| Project Type | Office building, production support facility, research spaces, staff welfare, industrial architecture |
| Project Description | Design of new offices and staff facilities for Simone Gatto S.r.l., including administrative spaces, nursery, gym, swimming pool, wellness facilities, canteen, laboratories and research areas. |
| Client | Simone Gatto S.r.l. |
| Architect | UFO Architecture |
| UFO Architecture Team | Andrew Yau, Claudio Lucchesi, Anna Liuzzo, Vendula Zimandlova, Francesco Giordano, Carmela Notaristefano |
| Project Status | Completed |
| Project Area | 1,200 sqm |
| Project Year | 2004 |
| Photographers | Nino Calamuneri, Gap_Gitto, Antonino Photographer |
| Climate Systems | Solaria S.r.l.; Daikin |
| Contractor | Maiorana Costruzioni |
| Structural Engineering | Ignazio Faranda |
| Windows / Openings | Pippo Alosi |
| Furniture | Mohd |
| Hydraulic / Plumbing Systems | Francesco Alibrando |
| Electrical Systems | Marino |
| Design Focus | Industrial office architecture, citrus production, staff welfare, research spaces, folding geometry, continuous spatial organisation, thresholds, public and semi-private work environments |
Simone Gatto Lemon Factory is a completed office and welfare building for Simone Gatto S.r.l. in San Pier Niceto, Messina, Italy. Simone Gatto is an internationally recognised producer of citrus essences and concentrates, rooted in Sicily’s long tradition of lemon and citrus cultivation.
The project responds to the company’s expansion and the need for new administrative, research and recreational spaces. The building is organised over three levels, combining public and staff facilities at ground level with management offices above and laboratory / research spaces on the upper floor.
The programme includes new offices, a nursery, gym, swimming pool, wellness facilities, canteen, laboratories and research areas. The design works with the concept of folding, transforming a complex organisational diagram into a continuous spatial system of strips, thresholds and connections.
Autonomous bands come together, aggregate and separate across different levels, producing a dynamic spatial and distributive structure in both plan and section. The result is a fluid working environment where public, semi-private and operational spaces are connected through shortcuts, visual links and carefully configured degrees of openness and enclosure.
