Innovating Eyewear Manufacturing: Park Associati's Design for Luxottica's Digital Factory

Constructed in 1932 as a modern, large-scale butchery in Copenhagen's meatpacking district, ÅBEN has since 1991 hosted a range of commercial businesses, transforming into a food production facility 2.0. Located within the city, ÅBEN preserves the industrial legacy of the building by inviting the public into the brewing processes, thus blurring the contemporary distinction between public and production. Originally, the space served as a chill hall, where 980 carcasses hung from a robust meat hanging rail system for 12 hours until the caloricity had left their bodies. The rails remain, but the carcasses have been replaced with steel vessels connected by kilometres of exposed piping.

Semitransparent curtains, reminiscent of those found in slaughterhouses, and a low-hanging galvanized steel catwalk for servicing the vessels, as well as conical fermentation tanks, partially divide the public spaces. Positioned within the existing grid of butcher rails, the tanks stand alone on the floor beneath the archetypal factory-like saw-tooth roof, which puts the extended ceiling height on full display, creating a consistent rhythm throughout the spaces. The industrial legacy is made tangible by the brewing apparatus, accompanied by nothing but unfussy furniture and a stripped-down space, acting as a blank canvas that highlights the landscape of technical installations. The qualities of the original hall are emphasized by the positioning of the brewing apparatus, together defining the spatial layout and ambience. At the entrance, there are no skylights and a rather low ceiling, creating an intimate atmosphere that is further compressed by the 14 serving tanks hung horizontally beneath the ceiling. The final publicly accessible space contains nothing more than the largest fermentation tanks, as well as an open kitchen island placed beneath the meat hanging rails. The transformation highlights two interrelated flows. As the beer being produced becomes increasingly sophisticated from back to front of the building, the spaces become exponentially pure and comprehensible as industrial facilities as the guest moves towards the origin of the raw product. This is due to the fact that the project is first and foremost planned according to production principles.

Simultaneously, this project seeks to challenge the traditional notion of a factory, which is solely focused on maximizing productivity. By recognizing each technical installation - which makes up the entire project - as a spatial installation, the project explores the architectural potential of the original food processing facility, as well as modern means of production. The Meatpacking District is one of 25 Danish industrial monuments and is protected, making both the interior and exterior listed. This transformation has left the building even closer to its original state than before. Rather than romanticizing industrial aesthetics, this project strives to streamline production while exposing its inherent architectural qualities.