The simplicity and structural ‘honesty’ of the industrial construction – converted in a light way by the firm Snøhetta in collaboration with Herbert Resch (Head of Corporate Architecture & Corporate Design of Zumtobel Group) – welcome a series of versatile spaces, in a logic of reuse and conservation of existing real estate assets, installed below the sawtooth roofing to document and display the work in progress. In what has been defined as a “Co-Creation Space,” the company and external designers activate virtuous interaction to directly test the characteristics and potential of lighting fixtures and light sources produced by the company. Rather than a traditional showroom, the Light Forum – also due to its size, covering all of the 4000 sqm of area of the original plant – acts as an unprecedented space for viewing and working: an environment in which the dynamic display of products is joined by temporary exhibitions, presentations and debates, transforming a commercial space in a hybrid, experimental way to make it an open center of culture and art.

The project by the studio Snøhetta conserves traces of the industrial past, taking the structure of the factory as a neutral framework of fair-face concrete in which to arrange light rooms (small spaces formed by a metal perimeter frame in which to activate different light sources and characteristics), in relation to larger zones with different material finishing, still formulated as large ‘boxes’ that do not erase the unity and height of the production space in which it all began. The internal itinerary, formed by various volumes positioned on the smooth concrete floor, offers a number of ‘open’ areas in which to meet, including a vast full-height hall with central tables and seating (from the Maxima line by William Sawaya) and a large stepped amphitheater in pale wood, with continuous lighting along the steps, which Snøhetta has inserted as the heart of the project, symbol of the “Co-Creation” philosophy behind Light Forum Zumtobel.