Ristrutturazione del centro informazioni Enel Entracque

Created in the 1970s, the Entracque hydroelectric plant (Cuneo) is a large accumulation plant powered by a sophisticated pumping system that enables energy to be produced continuously despite the limited availability of water. Recently, with the privatisation of Enel, the decision was made to open the plant to the public and to restructure the old abandoned villa, which during the building work had housed the company’s offices and the lodgings for the workers, to make it an information pavilion and a reception point for visitors. The building has been repainted red and covered with a horizontal grid of wooden slats to completely mask the four rather anodyne façades. The overlap between the red and the colour of the wood, the large portal that can be raised thanks to a system of hydraulic pistons, the (conserved) galvanised plate roof and a clever redistribution of the internal spaces, with the insertion of a large functioning model of the plant, have completely redefined the building, making it unrecognisable compared to the original one and highly representative for the functions required by Enel, as well as for the image of the entire valley. At night the lighting design project produces a very unusual scenographic effect.