The expansion of the Leone 1857 factory in Collegno, Turin, marks a significant milestone in the company’s evolution. Designed by Italian architecture firm Piuarch, the project introduces a new chocolate production area and a visitor route through the facility, creating the Fabbrica della Felicità, or Factory of Happiness. This initiative redefines the relationship between production, visitors, and the surrounding community.
The Architectural Project
The expansion integrates seamlessly with the existing production complex through a design of three longitudinal bays. The central bay houses the new chocolate production lines, while the side bays contain warehouses, technical areas, and distribution systems. The layout prioritizes efficiency and functionality, optimizing production flows. At the roof level, pitched roofs with skylights reinterpret industrial shed typology, introducing natural light into working spaces and enhancing comfort.
Transparency is a key design principle, transforming the factory into an open structure where production, visitors, and the environment create a continuous interaction. Extensive glazed surfaces, courtyards, and visual continuity between areas achieve this openness. The entrance features a full-height lobby with reception, café, shop, and internal garden, leading to a helical ramp that guides visitors through the manufacturing process.
The ramp serves as both a circulation element and an architectural narrative device. Curated by a specialist studio, the exhibition design integrates directly with the visual experience. Visitors observe the entire manufacturing cycle through viewpoints, level changes, and visual connections, creating an immersive journey. The route concludes in an arena with tiered seating, linking the historic site and new factory via multiple views toward the landscaped courtyard and chocolate production area, as well as the existing Pastiglie production building.
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The Façade as a Narrative Device
The main façade unifies the entire production complex, connecting the new extension with existing structures through a single architectural front. The design reinterprets Piedmontese industrial architecture using ceramic cladding with two sections: an upper terracotta area evoking late 19th-century brickwork and a lower polychrome glazed section reflecting the brand’s identity. This curtain-like façade gradually reveals Leone’s world, transitioning from the brand’s celebrated Pastiglie colors to the new chocolate section.
“The challenge was to design a space that would meet the needs of contemporary production without sacrificing the possibility of telling its story. Architecture thus becomes the means through which manufacturing is made visible, transforming the visit into a direct experience of the work, materials, and production culture of Leone,” said Germán Fuenmayor, Founding Partner at Piuarch.
The project combines production innovation with continuity in Leone 1857’s manufacturing identity. Industrial heritage is interpreted as a design resource, reimagining construction principles, environment relationships, and productive dimensions through a contemporary language adaptable to future development.
Industrial Heritage and Sustainability
The expansion respects Leone 1857’s industrial legacy while advancing its manufacturing capabilities. The design uses materials and forms that echo the company’s 19th-century origins. Terracotta and polychrome glazed ceramics on the façade reference traditional brickwork. The project’s emphasis on natural light and efficient energy use reflects a commitment to reducing environmental impact without compromising functionality.
