“The canteen and the relaxing area, symbol of the architecture desired by Olivetti in Ivrea, belong to a larger project that also includes the Olivetti recreational and sports complex, which occupies an area between the hill, the factory and the former San Bernardino convent. Designed by Ingazio Gardella in 1953, the building is the evidence of the quest for a new style carried out on the study of geometries, a search that matches this building with Figini and Pollini’s Social Service Center.

Here, the study leads to the circular plan of the initial drawings, then to the subsequent pentagonal plan, the further studies to form the trapeze and the half circle, and finally the hexagonal solution (…). The hexagonal plant of the canteen develops following the hill topography, is modified in harmony with the rocks and merges with nature. In addition to the main rooms designed for the canteen, it also houses the reading and playing areas and areas that can be used for exhibitions or dance halls. The structure designed by Gardella – physically linked to the Olivetti factories by an underground path (…) – is not conceived to be used during the lunch break only, but also in the evening. “Adriano wanted a pleasant place where employees could stay during the work break. The meal was not to be considered a purely mechanical action, that of introducing food into one’s mouth, but a time for recreation and sicializing. Olivetti was worried about this key aspect: the worker had to enjoy the rest and socializing”: these are Ignazio Gardella’s words when he remembered the figure of Adriano Olivetti and the canteen works in 1995” (texts: MAAM Ivrea)