The FIAT’s Lingotto plant was the world’s biggest automotive industrial complex. Inspired by the American industrial building style, the Lingotto plant was an innovative complex both in its appearance and the work organization: architect Le Corbusier called it “a guideline for urban planning”. On top of the five-storey building (formerly consisting of workshops and inspired by the style of American assembly lines), a car test track is still available.
The plant was closed down in 1982, after the large-scale manufacturing activities had been moved to the Mirafiori plant. Italian architect Renzo Piano was entrusted with reconverting the plant into a multipurpose centre that currently includes a big shopping mall, an art and picture gallery, a concert hall, a cinema hall as well as hotels and restaurants.