[Harry Thaler Studio]
How do you turn an old, disused concrete silo into a modern design studio on a tight budget, getting a maximum of convenience and comfort out of a relatively small space?
Towering at 22 m in a business park of the Italian Alps, the 6×6 m silo is a former storage site for wood shavings produced by a local carpentry. To introduce light into the structure, rectangular openings facing different cardinal points were cut into the raw concrete walls to make room for large window fronts.
Even before the restructuring works began, the project faced a number of challenges: The first obstacle to negotiate was convincing its owner not to demolish the silo, which is considered part of the regional industrial heritage. Obtaining a planning permission from the local council proved to be equally difficult. A pump was required to remove the wood shavings stored on the inside of the silo, and once the windows were cut out of the walls using a concrete saw, a series of 800 kg blocks of concrete had to be lowered to the floor with the help of a crane.
Text: Verena Spechtenhauser
Source: www.divisare.com + www.harrythaler.it
Photography by: Davide Perbellini