Interviews with Ying Bi

The project creates a new spatial identity by treating the character of the Olivetti site as a foundation rather than something to be erased.We preserved the legibility of the existing industrial building through its scale, rhythm, material presence, and spatial atmosphere, while carefully opening it up to new light, air, movement, and public use. This gives the old structure a new sense of breath without turning it into a neutral container.At the same time, the two new buildings introduce a contemporary identity to the site. They are designed to feel as if they grow from the ground, extending circulation and improving accessibility rather than standing apart as isolated objects. Their role is to activate the site and connect its different parts, not to compete with the existing architecture.In this sense, the project does not erase the Olivetti site’s industrial memory. It transforms that memory into a living educational environment, where the past remains visible but is continuously renewed through new programs, movement, and human presence.

The hybrid structural strategy of steel framing and long-span trusses was chosen because it allowed us to meet the complex functional needs of the project while intervening in the existing fabric with restraint.The multifunctional theater requires large, open, and flexible spaces that can accommodate performances, lectures, exhibitions, and public gatherings. A steel structure with long-span trusses makes this possible by reducing the need for dense columns and allowing the interior to remain adaptable over time. This flexibility is important because an educational and cultural building should be able to support changing forms of use rather than being fixed to one single program.At the same time, the strategy reflects our understanding of sustainable intervention. Instead of demolishing or heavily altering the existing industrial structure, the new system works as a complementary layer. It introduces new structural capacity and spatial openness while allowing the original building to remain visible and meaningful. In this way, the existing built fabric is not erased, but given the ability to support a new public life.For us, responsible activation means extending the life of the existing architecture through careful and precise intervention. The steel frame and long-span trusses are therefore not only technical solutions; they are also a way to balance preservation, adaptability, and contemporary use. Through this hybrid logic, the Olivetti site can continue to carry its industrial memory while being transformed into a flexible environment for knowledge, culture, and community.

Receiving the Bronze A’ Design Award positions the project as part of a broader conversation about how architecture can take responsibility in post-industrial urban transformation. For us, the recognition is meaningful not only because it acknowledges the project’s spatial, material, and technical qualities, but because it supports the idea that adaptive reuse can also be a civic act.The project tries to show that former industrial sites should not simply be erased, replaced, or frozen as monuments. They carry memories of labor, production, and collective urban history. Through careful intervention, these existing structures can be reactivated to support new forms of education, culture, and public life.In this sense, the transformation from a factory city to an education city is not only a programmatic shift, but a redefinition of the site’s civic role. By increasing accessibility, openness, and connection, the project allows the old industrial fabric to become part of contemporary urban life again.What we hope this awarded project communicates is that architecture should mediate between memory and change. In post-industrial renewal, the responsibility of architecture is not only to create new space, but to preserve continuity, reduce unnecessary demolition, and generate public value for the city and its communities.

The most defining obstacle was how to introduce a fully operational theater and educational campus into the Olivetti site without allowing the new programs to erase the identity of the existing industrial fabric.The original structures carried a strong spatial memory, but the new functions required openness, accessibility, flexible large-span spaces, and clear circulation. The challenge was therefore not only technical, but conceptual: how could the old and new coexist without one becoming subordinate to the other?This challenge ultimately reshaped the project from an object-based design into a relationship-based design. We began to focus on how the three main parts of the project connect with one another, and how the architecture reconnects with the site. The existing building was opened to bring in light, air, and movement, while the new buildings were designed to feel as if they grow from the ground, extending circulation and creating new reasons for people to enter and stay.In this sense, the obstacle became the main generator of the project. It pushed us to develop a strategy of connection, breathability, and responsible activation. The final direction was not to preserve the industrial site as a static memory, nor to replace it with a completely new identity, but to allow the old and new to form a living educational and cultural environment together.

The open circulation spine was designed as the civic backbone of the project. Its purpose is not only to connect different functions, but to transform the former industrial site into an accessible and active public environment.The spatial sequence was shaped by the need to connect the three main parts of the campus while also responding to the existing landscape and industrial fabric. Rather than organizing the project as separate buildings with isolated entrances, we wanted to create a continuous route where people could arrive, move, pause, gather, and discover different programs along the way.This strategy reflects a shift from the logic of industrial production to the logic of education and public life. The original site was defined by enclosure and function-specific movement, while the new campus requires openness, permeability, and informal interaction. The circulation spine creates this transition by linking architecture, landscape, and public activity into one continuous experience.Informal movement and encounter are essential to the civic ambition of the project. Education and culture do not only happen inside classrooms or theaters; they also happen through casual conversations, shared observations, and unexpected meetings. By allowing people to move freely and stay naturally, the spine creates a public ground where social life can emerge.In this way, the circulation spine helps the campus become more than a collection of programs. It becomes a living urban framework that reconnects the Olivetti site with people, memory, and community.

To reinterpret the philosophical foundation of the Olivetti model, we first had to rethink the meaning of education in a contemporary context. Education today is no longer only the transmission of knowledge. Its scope has expanded to include the ability to understand complexity, respond to uncertainty, embrace change and diversity, and develop empathy toward others.This understanding is closely connected to the original spirit of the Olivetti factory city. Olivetti was not only a model of industrial production, but also a social vision in which labor, learning, culture, and community life were deeply connected. Our project translates this idea into a contemporary education city, where the production of goods is replaced by the production of knowledge, dialogue, creativity, and social connection.Because we believe the core of education is the ability to face change, the campus is designed as an open and flexible environment. The theater, educational spaces, landscape, and public circulation spine allow different forms of learning to overlap: formal teaching, performance, exhibition, informal encounter, and everyday movement. Education is therefore not confined to classrooms, but unfolds across the entire site.We hope future users will experience the historical dialogue of the project through this openness. The industrial memory of the Olivetti site remains present through its scale, structure, and atmosphere, while the new interventions invite curiosity, participation, and exchange. In this way, the project does not freeze history or replace it, but allows the past and present to coexist as part of a living educational environment.

This project has reinforced our belief that underutilized or historically significant industrial environments should not be approached as empty sites waiting for new programs, but as existing frameworks with memory, structure, and civic potential.In future projects, we would continue to think about adaptive reuse through connection, openness, and flexibility. The goal is not simply to preserve industrial heritage as a visual object, but to reactivate it through new movement, public access, and programs that respond to contemporary life.The project also taught us that spatial and programmatic strategies must work together. New functions should not be inserted mechanically; they should create new reasons for people to enter, gather, learn, and return. For us, this is the broader lesson of the project: urban renewal becomes meaningful when architecture can transform existing fabric into a living public environment.

The combination of perforated metal and glazing was chosen to express the dialogue between industrial memory and contemporary openness, while also shaping the quality of light within the building.The perforated metal panels respond to the material language of the industrial site. Their texture, rhythm, and sense of fabrication recall the precision, repetition, and technical character of factory production. At the same time, perforation gives the metal a certain lightness. It is not a solid industrial wall, but a porous surface that allows light, shadow, and airiness to enter the architectural expression.Light was an important consideration in this material strategy. The large areas of glazing bring transparency and openness to the educational and public spaces, allowing activities inside the building to become visually connected to the campus. The perforated metal works together with the glass as a filtering layer, softening direct sunlight, creating changing patterns of shadow, and giving the interior a more nuanced and breathable atmosphere.In this way, the façade is not only symbolic, but also experiential. It mediates between exposure and enclosure, brightness and shading, solidity and transparency. The perforated metal preserves a sense of industrial heritage, while the glazing opens the building toward public life. Together, they allow the new volumes to communicate both the memory of the factory and the openness required for a contemporary place of learning and gathering.

The theatre required a careful balance between technical precision and respect for the adaptive reuse context. Acoustics, lighting, mechanical systems, and structure could not be treated as separate problems; they had to be coordinated as one integrated spatial system.The long-span steel structure gave the theatre the openness needed for performance and public assembly, while also allowing acoustic wall linings, suspended reflectors, lighting grids, and mechanical systems to be organized with clarity. This structural strategy helped us create a flexible, high-performance interior without overloading the space with unnecessary supports or visual interruptions.At the same time, we were careful that the technical requirements of the theatre did not erase the character of the existing industrial site. The new systems were introduced as precise contemporary interventions, while the broader architectural language continued to respond to the memory, scale, and material presence of the original fabric.For us, the most valuable lesson is that heritage and high-performance architecture should not be seen as opposites. An existing building is not only a constraint; it can become the beginning of the design. Its limits encourage more thoughtful decisions about structure, material, program, and public life.What we would hope to share with emerging designers is that innovation does not need to replace history. New technologies and technical systems can reactivate old buildings when they are used with care and purpose. True adaptive reuse is not about reproducing the past, but about allowing history to continue through new forms of use, performance, and civic life.