BIG's Stunning Colonnaded Factory for San Pellegrino Emerges in Italian Mountains

Architecture studio BIG has released new photos showing the San Pellegrino Flagship Factory under construction in a picturesque mountain valley in Italy, nearly a decade after the initial designs were first unveiled.

Scheduled for completion in 2027, this concrete facility will house the headquarters and bottling plant for the renowned soft drinks company San Pellegrino, situated on the bank of a river in Bergamo.

The project was first revealed by BIG in 2017, after the studio won an international competition to design it with a proposal that pays homage to traditional Italian architecture.

As seen in the latest photos, the 17,000-square-metre San Pellegrino Flagship Factory will feature tall concrete arches that reimagine traditional Italian arcades, piazzas, and porticos.

The design was selected ahead of entries from other prominent studios, including MVRDV, Snøhetta, and Architetto Michele De Lucchi.

Originally expected to be completed in 2022 and featured on Dezeen's list of buildings to look forward to that year, the project has faced delays but is now making significant progress.

"Like the mineral water itself – the new San Pellegrino Factory and Experience Lab will seem to spring from its natural source," said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels when the project was first revealed. "We propose to wash away the traditional segregation between front and back of house, to create a seamless continuity between the environment of production and consumption, preparation and enjoyment."

In a recent Instagram post sharing his own photos of the ongoing construction, Ingels described the building as "the aquatic equivalent of a wine cellar."

Also visible in the photos is a bridge created as part of the project to provide access to the site, engraved with the text S Pellegrino.

BIG, founded by Ingels in Copenhagen in 2005, now has studios in New York, Barcelona, and London. The studio is also currently developing other notable projects, including the Hamburg State Opera and an interfaith complex near Tirana.

The photography is by SchirraGiraldi and the renders are courtesy of BIG.