Original Purpose: Ansaldo steel mill

Date of construction: most likely around 1860

Style: 19th century industrial architecture

Restructuring: alteration and conversion to Teatro alla Scala theatre shops and rehearsal stages

Date of Restructuring: approx. 1990–1995

Current use: theatre workshops of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan (La Fabricca Scala all´Ansaldo, Laboratori Teatro di Prova)

Teatro alla Scala theatre workshops were originally located in municipalities of Bovisa, Pero, Abanella and the region of Piermarini. On February 20, 2001, they were all moved to the Porta Genova industrial park in Milan – a former production site used by the Ansaldo mechanical engineering company in the 1960s to manufacture steel products such as locomotives, rails and tram cars. In 1990, the park was purchased by the Milan Municipal Council “in compliance with long-term efforts to preserve memorials of economic and social processes that determined the identity of the city”. The monumental, unused factory premises – “authentic landmarks of industrial archaeology” – have been converted to studios, workshops and new spaces for creative activities. Some were made available to the newly established ethnographic centre at the Mudec museum of cultures. Apart from theatre workshops, the former industrial complex also hosts a universal space for cultural and creative purposes, with a café named Base, symbolizing the principle of cooperation and information exchange and enabling participants to develop their own projects in an open and creative environment.

Ansaldo halls are steel structures with a light facade shell and a sloping roof of glass facing the sky. Steel mill transformation to theatre workshops included construction of steel walkways to serve the paint shops as well as to make the premises accessible to the public. Walkway colours correspond with those of the hall structures. The premises have been equipped with heating, ventilation, and received new sanitation.

Author: Marcela Steinbachová

Translator: Jiří Pilucha