The Crown is a new landmark that interacts with the now famous Casalgrande Ceramic Cloud, the first Italian work by Kengo Kuma.
Built near the production site of Casalgrande Padana, inside two roundabouts along the axis of the Pedemontana highway connecting Casalgrande to Sassuolo, the two installations constitute a monumental system of particular architectural and symbolic value, serving as a kind of “eastern gateway ” to the ceramics district in Emilia.
Again in this case, the project has been assigned to a star of the contemporary architecture scene: Daniel Libeskind. Casalgrande Ceramic Crown is an unusual three-dimensional structure that experiments with innovative applications of ceramic components of the latest generation.
Entirely covered Fractile, the special porcelain stoneware tiles featuring a fractal pattern in relief, the structure develops vertically with a spiral that reaches 25 meters in height.
A form of pure compositional expression that emphasizes its vertical thrust in a sort of volumetric projection of a sketch drawn by hand, taking the form of a virtuoso construction to demonstrate how an ecological, flexible material like porcelain stoneware can be applied in the most unexpected contexts.
Conceived as a ventilated facade anchored to a very slim steel structure, The Crown will become a new architectural landmark in the local context surrounding the Casalgrande Padana complex.
The opening ceremony was attended by Daniel Libeskind, Franco Manfredini, president of Casalgrande Padana, Alberto Vaccari, mayor of Casalgrande and Graziano Delrio, Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation.
