Concrete grain silos at risk from "Facadism"

An important historical document, the Grande Silos Granario in Puglia, southern Italy, is in danger of being demolished, or perhaps worse, of being constructively emptied! The Silos Granario is an important memory of the well-known Battle of Grain launched in 1925 to support national wheat production and a symbol of the functional architecture of the 1930s. A building permit issued by the municipality of Gravina authorised a sterile façadism to the entire factory, limiting conservation to only the structures of the elevations and allowing internal demolition. Moreover, the intended use is ill-suited to the structural typology of a silo, having above all decided to build a condominium of traditional flats, without even going through the post-industrial interpretation of the loft. Today, original machinery can still be seen inside, including the circular distributor unit for filling the cells, the distributor belts and other machines that deserve to be recovered and preserved. The case of the Silos in Gravina is a typical example of how a building is one with its industrial function. Recovery can therefore only take place through a design culture interested in exploring these values, which are also a guide for the identification of a compatible use.