FDBusiness.com

World-renowned architecture firms BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and MVRDV have been shortlisted in an international tender to redesign  Nestlé Waters’ S.Pellegrino flagship factory. Four of the most distinguished global firms had unveiled their projects and visions on September 15 in San Pellegrino Terme, Italy to a panel of elite judges.

NY & Copenhagen’s BIG and Netherlands-based MVRDV will now advance to the final round of the competition, where they will have two months to develop a more detailed plan. Final projects will then be presented to the judging committee, coordinated by Professor Luca Molinari, Architecture Consulting & Curatorship and curator of the tender, with members including: Marco Settembri, Executive Vice President Nestlé S.A., Head of Nestlé Waters; Magdi Batato, Executive Vice President Nestlé S.A., Head of Operations; Stefano Agostini, President & CEO of Sanpellegrino S.p.A. Nestlé Waters Italy; and international personalities such as Edwin Heathcote, Architecture and Design critic of Financial Times, Elena Manferdini, Architect and SCI-Arc Graduate Programs Chair, Giulio Cappellini, Founder, Designer and Architect of Cappellini, Laudomia Pucci, CEO of Emilio Pucci, Group LVMH.

Judges concurred that their decision would not be an easy task, following initial presentations in September, which saw high-level proposals also from Oslo- & NY-based Snøhetta and Italian firm Michele De Lucchi.

“All contenders presented highly innovative and technologically-advanced solutions that demonstrated profound coherence of S.Pellegrino values and tradition, making it extremely difficult to determine a single winner,” says Stefano Agostini, President and CEO of the Sanpellegrino Group. “Thus, the judging committee collectively decided to establish a second phase of the competition, where shortlisted firms could elaborate on their plans for our new Flagship Factory. On behalf of S.Pellegrino, we’d like to thank all four participants for sharing their thoughtful proposals and artistic visions.”

The winner of the prestigious competition will be announced by January 2017, with the ground-breaking set to take place in early 2018. The new S.Pellegrino bottling plant is envisioned to become a signature of the brand, expected to welcome visitors from all over the world.

S.Pellegrino, the world’s leading sparkling mineral water with a heritage of 100-plus years of taste and style, recently launched the international-scale architecture tender in order to renovate its home in San Pellegrino Terme, where its source is located, with a state-of-the-art and technologically-advanced design. The new facility is aimed to harmonize its aesthetic nature with its surrounding territory, paying close attention to the image and character of the S.Pellegrino brand – one that, since its founding in 1899, has carried on its commitment to innovation and progressive technology. The endeavor is also a testimony of S.Pellegrino’s commitment to its terroir, the place where it all started, and serves as a step forward in bringing San Pellegrino Terme back to its golden age, or the height of the Belle Époque, where the town was an exclusive society rendez-vous for European aristocracy.