In this experimental visual essay, we follow an imaginary lump of coal across space and time from... more In this experimental visual essay, we follow an imaginary lump of coal across space and time from its Gondwanan beginnings, through its extraction from the Talcher Coalfields in Odisha in India, combustion in a thermal power plant in Ennore in Tamil Nadu, and into the future through its multitude of postcombustion afterlives. We do so through the figure of ‘anthropocene desire lines’, which draws on Karen Coelho’s idea of ‘water lines’ (Coelho 2022) and Gabrielle Hecht’s idea of ‘residual governance’ (Hecht 2023), to track how flows of earthly matter that begin in subterranean strata, and, mobilized by ideas of power, growth and national pride, result in indifference towards the molecular colonization of bodies, soils, waters and airs they produce (Mendes 2017). The essay compresses the deep, everyday and future times of coal and its geologic, territorial, microscopic and planetary scales into a single textual/visual narrative. In this way, it draws out simultaneities across time and interconnections across space, as a way of developing a relational Anthropocene imaginary.
This paper considers the impact, design and history of Fiat’s celebrated Lingotto car plant in Tu... more This paper considers the impact, design and history of Fiat’s celebrated Lingotto car plant in Turin in the context of the industrial advances, artistic movements, and personal ambitions which shaped it. The legacy of Lingotto is at once illuminated and obscured by the mythology created by (often partisan) advocates and commentators which surrounds it. The factory was of its time, yet simultaneously obsolete , and debate continues as to how much of it was a cultural and architectural statement by the Agnelli family and Fiat’s board, as it was a functional, mechanised plant for the manufacture of motor cars.
This study looks specifically at how Lingotto reached its nowadays eminent status, as a jewel of European industrial heritage, through an assortment of often contradictory descriptions and classifications. Much has been written on its symbolic rooftop test track and innovatively cast spiral ramps, but little is known of its performance as a production facility, or why Fiat moved production away from the prized factory little over 14 years after its inauguration.
The thesis will begin by introducing the Lingotto and its place amongst historical and contemporary architectural discourse. I will trace the influences of its theory and design, and conduct a thorough analysis of its organisation and operation. The study draws heavily on my research in Turin at the Fiat archives and at Turin Polytechnic, where I was privileged to be given access to the last surviving drawings and documentation of the factory’s construction. The paper looks at the transforming legacy of the Lingotto, and the changing of attitudes towards it, made pertinent today by its recently completed redevelopment by Renzo Piano.
Uploads
Papers by John Cook
This study looks specifically at how Lingotto reached its nowadays eminent status, as a jewel of European industrial heritage, through an assortment of often contradictory descriptions and classifications. Much has been written on its symbolic rooftop test track and innovatively cast spiral ramps, but little is known of its performance as a production facility, or why Fiat moved production away from the prized factory little over 14 years after its inauguration.
The thesis will begin by introducing the Lingotto and its place amongst historical and contemporary architectural discourse. I will trace the influences of its theory and design, and conduct a thorough analysis of its organisation and operation. The study draws heavily on my research in Turin at the Fiat archives and at Turin Polytechnic, where I was privileged to be given access to the last surviving drawings and documentation of the factory’s construction. The paper looks at the transforming legacy of the Lingotto, and the changing of attitudes towards it, made pertinent today by its recently completed redevelopment by Renzo Piano.