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THE OCTOSPIDER – WORKERS’ CAFETERIA

> Concepts

The owner of Satin Textile, Mr. Schle Wood, had insisted on the need to provide his workers and employees
with a better working environment, as a fundamental part of his vision for a modern industrial operation.

Eating has always been a social event, a need transformed into a ritual for all social classes. Today’s life has
endangered this act, has brought it back to a mere functional activity, especially in a working place.
In designing a factory cafeteria, it has therefore been of paramount importance to bring back some nobility
to the moment of eating, while keeping in mind the notions of efficiency, timing and economy.

For this reason our masterplan has located the cafeteria on the water pond, half way between the textiles
finishing buildings and the weaving factory, the closest place to the major production units. In the masterplan,
this location enjoys a perfect setting, above the water, lifted from the ground and exposed both to the South
Westerly winds and the Winter Northerly.

The complex is raised 8 meters from the ground, overlooks the building around it and the landscape, and this
hovering position help psychologically to remove the people from the context of the factory. Each
individual has a intimate and personal relationship with the context, thanks to the isolation of each pier out
over the lake.

For the ultimate shape of the building, we wanted all the elements of the cafeteria to dynamically collide or
intersect in a single point, where the center of public activity would be placed, and from there extend over
the artificial lake in such a way to keep each program clearly separated from each other. After trying several
option, we opted for a spider-like form, able to exactly.

A ramp springs from the main pedestrian path, reaches the cafeteria and arches down to the weaving
factory. During its trajectory the ramp transform itself, becoming part of the cafeteria, getting somehow
wider to provide some public space under the roof of the building. It is supported by thin steel pipes,
very dense, to blend with the surrounding vegetation that borders the pond.

The cafeteria building itself is a narrow, long bar tangent to the ramp, and resting on slender concrete pylons.
The intersection of the piers and the main building generates unique spaces that are occupied by the different
programs of the kitchen.

> Elements of the building

The kitchen is enclosed to prevent the cooking smell from invading the air, but it is glazed on its side facing
the ramp, so that the act of cooking can be seen by the people queuing for food. The double roofing system
is made of a overhanging canopy of light insulated panels, with the wind passing in-between and cooling
down the lower roof.

All standard functions of a factory kitchen have been included. There are 4 main areas: the kitchen itself,
with stoves, basins and large tables, the meal distribution area which opens on the ramp, where people
queue to get the food, the storage rooms, both refrigerated and for canned food, and the wash dishing
area close to the garbage room. These areas are connected along an axis, allowing an efficient flow
within the building.

After retrieving the food on a tray, people move to one of the three piers, stretching out over the lake.
At 8 meters from the ground, on slender concrete pylons, the piers take people further away from the reality
of the factory, putting them in a more intimate contact with nature and granting privacy within a public space.

The side wall along the aisle has a louver system that let the wind go through but protect from sun and
rain, and the wall on the eating side has movable shading panels. Therefore the air is free to cross-ventilate
through the pier, and the water under the pier itself will help cooling down the eating area.