The production site Bosio exists since 1956 and is located in the small community of Castiglione Torinese, in Turin metropolitan area, Piemont. Run by a family business, it has been for the last 50 years a place of industrial production of car spare parts. It was originally designed for 500 employees and their work on heavy machinery. Structural changes and transformations on the production processes brought new demands on the industrial facilities. Therefore, the company will move to a new location in a foreseeable future.

Solutions to tear down the production site and develop a large shopping mall are being discussed in the community. The implementation of this decision could lead to the collapse of the well-functioning, small-scale retailing structure of the inner city. A large scale comercial area would also overload the village infrastructure and cause environmental pollution. Futhermore the architectural qualitiy of the existing industrial buildings, their atmosphere and lighting mood would be lost.

Aim of the architectural design is to find and implement a suitable new use for the site and for the existing buildings: a silk manufacture associated with a training programm. This metamorphosis will give the place a new meaning and identity. All necessary stages of silk production will be implementend: cultivation of mulberry trees, silkworm rearing, thread and tissue production and their refinement.

The value-added chain of silk production is economically robust with its wide range of skilled, technical and intellectual work processes. It links to the local potential of the place - to the know-how on textile production, founded in the long tradition of Piemont 's economic region. It responds to the increasing global demand for high-quality organic silk, especially searched by international fashion designers and couturiers. The new production allows appreciation for the local community - the pride in a self-produced high-quality tissue. From the raw material to the finished product, silk production holds great economic and social value for the village and represents a solid functional alternative for the production site.