Pininfarina is renowned as one of the most prestigious car design houses in the world. How did you translate this heritage to architecture?
Paolo Pininfarina: Pininfarina was founded in 1930 by my grandfather Pinin and, over the past 85 years, talented teams gave life to some of the most stunning cars in automotive history. In 1987, my father, Sergio, asked me to extend our design capability outside the automotive sector; my team has realised hundreds of projects from aircraft to yachts, and from furniture to luxury goods.
Our last amazing challenge was architecture – bringing movement and dynamism to buildings, which are static by definition. Curved and fast lines, sculpted and sensual shapes, a combination of traditional and innovative materials – coming from our car design heritage – are the hallmark of our architectural projects and the answer to our dream of creating architecture in movement.
Is your architectural language able to adapt to different contexts?
During our long history, we have been working with international partners, creating projects together that are able to respect, and be consistent with, their identity. Our goal is always to create contemporary yet timeless architecture, identifying a distinctive design language tailor made for our partners’ identity and customers’ needs, and merging our style with the one of the partner.
In this sense, let me mention our recent projects in hospitality that represent the versatility of our style. On one hand, Beachwalk – a high-end real-estate project in Hallandale Beach, South Florida – is characterised by a contemporary and iconic design. On the other hand, the Club Nettuno in Anacapri, represents another face of Pininfarina Architecture. This project, a conservative requalification and extension of a historic beach club that resulted in an exclusive and mimetic gem, shows Pininfarina’s ability to intervene delicately and in complete respect of the natural environment.
The prestigious awards assigned to projects realised in different geographies show our ability to maintain a unique style while adapting to different cultures. Among the most recent achievements are our the 2016 iF Design Award assigned for the residential tower Cyrela by Pininfarina in San Paolo, the 2015 American Architecture Award and 2017 German Design Award for Vitra in Balneario Camboriù, and the 2016 International Architecture Award for Istanbul New Airport ATC Tower. This last project will be the landmark for Istanbul New Airport, standing out thanks to the tower shape inspired by a tulip, the symbol of Istanbul for many centuries, and a design recalling the aerodynamic forms used in automotive and aviation design.
What is the Pininfarina vision for hospitality?
In a world always on the move, we are travellers and we know how important it is to feel at home. For this very reason, we think of hospitality as a key sector; we believe in the value of creating comfortable spaces that are able to give warm sensations to the customers, welcoming them all over the world. We apply our long experience in creating fulfilling customer experiences in all the sectors, from automotive to furniture, imagining environments and atmospheres that are able to create unique sensations. In the hospitality sector in particular, we combine our long heritage in furniture design with an innovative style in architecture to give life to tailor-made projects. Moreover, our partners can leverage the Pininfarina brand to communicate the projects.
Branding is becoming more strategic in the hospitality sector. How do you support your partners in this regard?
Pininfarina is not only an architectural studio but also a brand. Our rich heritage and the prestigious collaborations – like the one with Ferrari that started in 1951 – allowed our name to become a symbol of Italian style in the world. Not only can our partners leverage our brand to launch the projects, but we can also collaborate actively on all the communication phases involving our team of architects and me to guarantee the highest visibility.
