SOLIMENE CERAMICs FACTORY 1953-1956 Vietri (Salerno)Paolo Soleri - DOCOMOMO - Conference Poster - Italian working party for documentation and conservation of building, sites and neighbourhoods of the modern movement

The factory lies on a trapezoidal shaped plot, flanked on one side by the mountain which overlooks Vietri. The plot is orientated along a west-east axis, which was levelled out expressly for construction. The section which belongs to the Soleri project is made up of a full-height area, illuminated by a skylight, onto which overlook three levels of terraces, which are used as workspaces for lathe turners and decorators. The production cycle of ceramic proceeds from the top level to the bottom: this greatly influences the spatial lay-out of the building. The highest floor is dedicated to lathing and modelling; the first stage of cooking took place in the vertical kiln(now removed) which connected to every level of the factory; transport along an inclined floor on the lower floor, used for decoration; then the second stage of cooking, and finally the showing and sale on the ground floor, via a second ramp. The side which faces the mountain is entirely blocked, and, on the ground floor, was designed as an internal driveway, for the loading and transportation of ceramics. Today, it holds the horizontal oven which is currently in use. The only view of the factory is outlined, on three sides, by the curving profile of Via Madonna degli Angeli, and is shaped by a partition, itself as tall as the building, and made up of upturned cones of polychrome ceramic, alternated with glass semi lozenges. This continual line of ceramic and glass lies on a cement basement, which provides a level base for the cones, conforming the view from the street. The basement is moreover decorated by plates and ceramics plastered directly in the concrete, which add an element of advertising.