Author: Federico Cauro

One hundred and thirteen years of history: over a century of innovations, concepts, and designs that have repeatedly redefined the course of the automotive industry in Italy and the world. This is the illustrious and unique legacy of Alfa Romeo’s design. A metaphorical giant on whose shoulders the brand’s designers now sit, tasked with an undertaking as challenging as it is exciting: to translate that experience and transition it into the future of electric mobility.

The journey officially began with the launch of the Tonale Plug-in Hybrid Q4, the car that completes the Tonale range and with which the brand has set a clear goal: to provide an “Alfa answer” to the electric transition without distorting Alfa Romeo’s DNA. The approach chosen by the designers is an evolution and tribute to those 113 years of history. We want to revisit them by remembering the brand’s most important milestones.

The story of Alfa Romeo began in 1910 when Cavalier Ugo Stella acquired the Società Italiana Automobili Darracq, the Italian branch of a French manufacturer. In 1915, the company became A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili), and from the outset, it focused on the design and engineering of cars. Leading the charge was Giuseppe Merosi, one of the most respected engineers of the time. The first vehicle produced was the 24HP, a car we would today describe as a sports sedan, capable of reaching a top speed of about 100km/h.

The allure of speed led the company to work on a prototype that seemed straight out of a sci-fi movie: the 40/60HP “Aerodinamica.” Built on commission by Carrozzeria Castagna, the vehicle was the first true minivan in history. Made entirely of metal, it had circular portholes and an unusual submarine-like curved shape, allowing it to cut through the air and reach top speeds of 139km/h.

Following the first world war, the second chapter in Alfa’s story began, marked by the union with entrepreneur Nicola Romeo’s name, who had taken over the company before the Great War. The years between the two world conflicts saw a succession of ever-new ideas and significant innovations, both from an engineering and technological point of view and in terms of design.

In 1922, the production of the Alfa Romeo RL began. It was the company’s first major international success and a winning car like few others before it. In the 1920s, Alfa Romeo won everything it could in car competitions.

However, alongside its sporting vocation, the brand’s pursuit of design was also pushed forward: a journey that culminated at the end of the decade in the 6C model, which allowed Alfa Romeo to win both in competitions and in elegance contests thanks to an innovative and unique design.

From 1931 to 1939, the racing sector was dominated by the 8C, the first true hypercar in history. The eight-cylinder was a concentration of unprecedented technology and design. Legend has it that it was an 8C 2900 that led Henry Ford to say, “Every time I see an Alfa Romeo pass by, I tip my hat.”

In 1947, Alfa Romeo launched the 6C 2500 “Freccia D’oro,” “Villa D’Este,” and “Supersport. “Both immediately became style icons. New design elements that still distinguish the brand today debuted on this model, such as the triangular shield-shaped central grille, with the logo in the center, and the side air intakes, which we find today on the Tonale in a contemporary reinterpretation. The ’50s also saw a resumption of race victories, with the Tipo 158, the first true “Alfetta”: a masterpiece of engineering and aerodynamics. Thanks to its design and the most powerful 1500 engine ever built, it could reach 306 km/h.

However, in the early ’50s, the company decided to withdraw, practically unbeaten, from car racing to focus instead on commercial production. With the introduction of assembly lines and the transition to mass industrial production, the company transformed into a large-scale global manufacturer. That decision would result in decades of great success, cementing Alfa Romeo’s role as an undisputed symbol of the quality of Italian automotive design.

In 1954, the Giulietta was born. The car was presented as the Giulietta Sprint model designed by Bertone at the Turin Auto Show: it was a real watershed moment, not only for a design that would make history but also for the technological advancements the car championed, such as the 1300cc Twin Cam engine with an aluminum alloy head – Alfa Romeo would manufacture it for decades. The Giulietta Sprint was an unprecedented success: Alfa Romeo was forced to suspend orders a few days after the presentation to be able to meet the unexpected demand.

On the wings of the Giulietta’s success, Alfa Romeo introduced another model destined to make history just eight years later: the Giulia, presented at the Monza Autodrome in 1962. The new model was ripe with innovation, starting with a wind tunnel-tested design that guaranteed an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.34. It weighed only 1000 kg and sported — in the TI version — a 1570cc engine that ensured ease of driving and excellent sprint.

Sales were going so well that Alfa Romeo decided to add a new production hub in Arese, near Milan, alongside the Portello factory: the company would move its official headquarters here until 1986. From the Giulia, other successful models were derived that still find a place in the annals of Alfa Romeo, from the Sprint GT to the Spider Duetto (1966), the model Dustin Hoffman used to drive in the 1967 film “The Graduate.”

The legendary Tipo 33 was also born during those years of unstoppable ferment. The car won a lot of competition in various configurations until the end of the 1970s, spurring a series of evolutions that marked the development of Alfa Romeo’s design. The street-ready version of the 33, the “Stradale,” was a dream supercar: it could run at 260 km/h, and only 18 were built — strictly by hand. The 33 Stradale would also become the metaphorical canvas on which the greatest Italian designers of the time would experiment without limiting their boldest ideas. In 1968, Bertone designed and built the 33 Carabo prototype, a futuristic car with scissor doors that would inspire the designs of famous models from other Italian luxury brands.

In the 1970s, Alfa Romeo also responded to major market changes with a series of successful new models, such as the Alfa Sud and especially the Alfetta, named after the single-seater of the 50s, a sports sedan that would remain the sales champion in its segment for many years.

The 1980s marked another fundamental turning point for Alfa Romeo and, once again, the entry into a new era. In 1986, after a period of hardship, the company was sold by Finmeccanica to the Fiat Group. As part of the brand’s relaunch, the Turin company would favor investments in design with the opening of a new design center. At the end of the decade came the Alfa 164, the first model of the Fiat era: designed by Pininfarina and produced in Arese, it was a spacious sedan suitable also for families, but that in no way gives up its sporty look.

In the next three decades, under the guidance of Walter de Silva, the Arese Design Center would then embark on very important projects for the brand’s evolution, such as the Nuvola and Proteo prototypes, but also the 145, 156, and 147 and later the Alfa MiTo.

Towards the end of the century, the investments in design and innovation of the Arese center began to yield their most valuable fruits. In 1997, the Alfa Romeo 156 was born, rewriting the paradigms of automotive design. From a technological point of view, it introduced unprecedented innovations, such as the common rail injection system for diesel engines, that would then be adopted by practically all car manufacturers. Thanks to its innovations, in 1998 the car won the coveted Car of the Year award, marking the beginning of another new chapter of Alfa Romeo’s history of design excellence.

De Silva’s team would double down in the year 2000 by winning the same award also with the Alfa Romeo 147. With this model, the designers immediately rethought the front of the 156, despite its success, and improved it even further. The rest of the car is a triumph of sporty compactness that perfectly embodies the Alfa Romeo spirit.

In the following years, the brand continued to explore and create its design icons. In 2003, the Alfa GT Bertone arrived, a sedan reminiscent of the Giulietta Sprint. Then came the Alfa Romeo Brera, returning to the 2+2 segment, with a panoramic roof and electronic traction control on all models.

And then again, the 8C Competizione and the 8C Spider, supercars for a few that recall the glory of the sports cars of the ’60s and ’70s, up to the grand return of the Giulietta in 2010, a celebration of Alfa’s great history. In 2016, the Giulia also made its triumphant return, which, together with the Stelvio of 2017 – a crossover based on the same platform – laid the foundations for the present design of Alfa Romeo.

Here we are finally back to the present day, with the introduction of the Tonale concept in 2019. Designed by the Centro Stile in Turin, it was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in a hybrid version that would later become the Tonale Plug-In Hybrid Q4.

Today, the Tonale hits the road to complete its journey: it is the most technologically advanced car ever designed by Alfa Romeo. The designers of the Centro Stile have managed to blend technological innovations with the Alfa spirit that has always marked every new design and model of the Italian brand.

One does not need the eye of an “Alfista”, as the fans of the brands like to call themselves, to notice how much the Tonale is a contemporary tribute to Alfa’s history. In the compact SUV, it’s easy to glimpse the evolution of the carmaker’s recent style, but there are also illustrious references, such as the side recalling the elegance of the 1960 Giulia GT or the triple LED headlights inspired by the sportiness of the 1989 Alfa Romeo Sprint Zagato.

“Alfa Romeo is a particular way of living, of experiencing the car. The true essence of Alfa challenges any description”, said Orazio Satta Puliga in the 60s, the designer and director of Alfa design from 1946 until the 70s. “It can be compared to those irrational movements of the spirit that sometimes occur in man and for which there is no logical explanation. We are in the realm of sensations, passions, things that have more to do with the heart than the brain.”

This is the legacy that Tonale is carrying today. A long journey that, now more than ever, in the new era of generative artificial intelligence, electrification, and sustainable mobility, can allow a brand with 110 years of history to embrace the future with courage. Changing again, yet always staying the same.

Architecture has always played a fundamental role in the identity of Chiesi Farmaceutici, a company founded in Parma in 1935 from the entrepreneurial impulses of Giacomo Chiesi, a pharmacist with a dream of research. The first “architectural event” linked to the plant was, however, tragic: the laboratories were in fact almost completely destroyed by bombing in 1944. But immediately after the end of the Second World War, the company’s activity resumed, and with it its growth. Giacomo Chiesi evaluated the possibility of buying land to build a “real factory”. The new production plant was inaugurated in 1955, with 50 employees and expanded production of successful medicines.  

It is the now historical industrial site in Via Palermo, Parma: an area characterised by great modernity from the outset, with a specific focus on the quality of work spaces and adherence to the most avant-garde design principles. 

In 1966 Giacomo Chiesi passed the helm to his sons Alberto and Paolo. The company was still small, but already facing the international market. With them began a process of expansion and internationalisation, which took concrete form with the opening of the first foreign office in Brazil at the end of the Seventies and then with the arrival in dozens of countries around the world: from Pakistan to Bulgaria, from China to the Scandinavian countries. 

Despite this growth process and international outlook, the company’s roots remain firmly in the Parma area, and in some ways the architectural development of the area represents the evolution of Chiesi’s values and identity.  

Between the end of the second and the beginning of the third millennium, at different times and with different roles, the third Chiesi generation entered the company, the children of Alberto and Paolo: Alessandro, Andrea, Giacomo and Maria Paola. Their entry opened up further new lines of research and development: Chiesi became a pioneer in the world of regenerative medicine and in 2013 entered the world of biotechnology, positioning itself today at the pinnacle of innovation in the bio-pharmaceutical sector. 

Not even at this stage does the focus on architecture fail. Three years after the official inauguration of the new headquarters, which flanks the existing Research Centre, the Chiesi Group aims to continue the process of urban redevelopment of the historic industrial site in via Palermo, Parma, and create an innovative “business playground”: a hub open to the corporate community and its partners, transforming the site into a veritable landmark, in which to investigate the interconnections between people’s health and the health of the planet. 

For this reason, the Italian multinational biopharmaceutical company – which is now among the top 50 pharmaceutical companies in the world – launched an international Call for Ideas a few months ago entitled “Restore to Impact”, with the aim of identifying innovative, evolutionary and transversal concepts that could serve as guidelines for the regeneration of the Chiesi industrial site in Parma. Chiesi thus proposes itself as a cultural platform and promoter of reflections on Open Innovation and built architecture. 

“The rapid changes we are witnessing in all fields and disciplines today require the interconnection of increasingly specialised professionals who have evolving skills. But they also demand workplaces that are aligned with current notions of cooperation, inclusion, Wellbeing and where research and training are supported by state-of-the-art technologies. Innovative spaces where people are always at the centre.” says Andrea Chiesi, Head of Special Projects at Chiesi Farmaceutici. 

Flexibility, adaptability over time, porosity understood as the ability to dialogue with the physical and social context and as the quality of the landscape and public spaces in relation to connectivity; but also sustainability in technological, environmental, economic, business and innovative terms: these are the criteria selected by the “Restore to Impact” Selection Committee to evaluate the ideas submitted. 

Participation in the Call was important, with almost 500 users registered to the project’s web platform in the two months it was open – from March, 1st to April, 30th. This is the result of intensive promotion and dissemination of the initiative, which reached more than one hundred countries worldwide. A total of 31 concepts were selected for the final phase of the competition, of which 26 for the Professional Category and 5 for the Under 30 Category. Of these, three were awarded in each category, with an Honourable Mention also being given for the Professional Category. 

Among professionals, the three prizes and the Honourable Mention were awarded to project teams, either multidisciplinary or composed of architects only. All were based in Italy, two specifically in Parma. This is an indicator, beyond the Call’s intentions and the international audience it reached, of how closeness and familiarity with an urban area, its history and critical issues are fundamental elements for the development of an intervention concept such as the one stimulated by “Restore to Impact”, stretching beyond the boundaries of architecture and open to the generation or regeneration of a profound dialogue between business, territory and community. 

For the Under 30 Category, the three prizes were awarded to undergraduates or recent graduates of Architecture from three different countries, Italy, the Netherlands and Australia. A geographical openness that denotes a different methodological approach of the three concepts, more inclined to propose flexible solutions in space and time. 

The Selection Committee comments on the results of the initiative as follows: “What comes before architecture? The needs of a society. Restore to Impact is this: by launching a public competition to renovate existing buildings, the aim is to think collectively about how to approach the regeneration of a former industrial area, to create a beating heart of connectivity and to reflect on its relationship with the local community. The results of the Call for Ideas represent a layering of voices from which to extract… balance.” 

When in 1984 Renato Pozzetto in the cult Italian comedy ‘Il Ragazzo di Campagna’ shot the iconic scene of the one-room apartment in which all the interiors are foldable in an ironic reflection on Milanese city life, he would perhaps not have imagined that in the future our everyday life would be profoundly populated by this idea of design.

Today, in fact, we wake up in beds that often fold up into sofas, we travel to work on folding electric means of transport such as e-bicycles and scooters. Those who use public transport, then, do so by taking out season tickets or contactless cards from foldable wallets, before sitting down in front of laptops that are also foldable. If leisure time is punctuated by reading, we are faced with some of the earliest and most classic examples of foldable design, while the slice of pizza folded in half consumed during the lunch break reminds us that man is almost instinctively oriented towards this solution. Not to mention the essential tool for our daily activities, from work to entertainment, which is the smartphone that has now also become foldable, such as the brand new Honor Magic Vs.

Yet, the history of foldable design has roots in the distant past. That is why, in light of our contemporary practices, it deserves to be rediscovered.

When Brionvega launched its ‘Dimensions Brionvega’ advertising campaign in 1971, presenting all its products in order of size, what truly caught the public’s attention was the smallest and most seemingly hidden of its designs: the TS207 radio. 

It was colourful, compact, handy, and foldable. A design solution that made it an instant classic, which today serves to remind us how the history of design is criss-crossed by small, folding revolutions.

It is as if each generation had its own foldable design icon that has become part of our lives, shaping memories and inevitably tying in with the evolution of our daily habits. Think, for example, of the room dividers that marked, for decades, a society in which nudity was taboo, even in married life, becoming an often exotic furnishing object but also a guardian of intimacy, of fantasies and seduction.

If those who grew up at the turn of the ‘60s and ‘70s associate Brionvega’s TS207 with a youth spent searching for the right frequency, to find out the score of a game or tune in to a pirate radio, for another couple of generations folding design is the Proustian madeleine that instantly brings one’s memories back to the afternoons spent playing Nintendo’s portable consoles, such as the Gameboy Advance SP (2003), DS (2004) and 3DS (2011). 

Similarly, Zanuso and Sapper’s 1967 Grillo landline phone for Siemens tells of times when people waited for hours sat next to the receiver for the call of a schoolyard crush, while the flip phones of the late 1990s and mid-2000s remind us of the first romantic texts cautiously sent in the early days of mobile telephony. 

On the other hand, foldability is an attribute that necessarily brings with it the concept of portability, of that dynamic and virtuous attitude that we now label as ‘on the go’. A vocation that responds to the needs of humans, nomadic since the dawn of time. Hence, it is no surprise that today’s urban mobility is dotted with electric scooters and folding bikes, such as those by Brompton and Tenways.

The technologies employed, the trends and devices evolve, but the design attitude remains unchanged. A game, as ancient and simple as origami, thus now becomes the inspiration for Alberto Meda’s eponymous folding room divider, produced by Tubes.

Folding design, we could argue, was born with purely pragmatic purposes, ending up shaping us and eventually becoming our extension, as functional as it is iconographic. 

In the best tradition of foldable design, the new Honor Magic Vs takes up a dual challenge, that of offering an extended surface for both work and entertainment, while responding to the need of today’s public for a return to compact and manageable devices, after years of hyperbolic escalation in size.

With a large screen, both when open and folded, it qualifies as the smartphone that meets the needs of the writer or worker on the move, but also of those who want a phone that is a companion for entertainment, reading and watching videos.

The design development is in fact among the most surprising elements of the phone, which, by reducing the structural components to 4 from the 92 of the previous generation, can rely on a super-light hinge that ensures up to 400,000 closures, meaning an average of 100 per day for more than ten years. 

On the other hand, it is not difficult to think of what can be considered its ancestor, the book, with its evolution of binding techniques. But also the newspaper, designed to be read, folded, carried in the hand, under the arm or in the pocket of a jacket. Yet the telephone today is also a jukebox always at hand, an evolution – one could argue – of the portable record players, such as those by Phillips, Dansette or Lesa, which first made it possible to listen to vinyl even outdoors, thanks to a system of cases, handles and hinges. 

Folding design is, even in the most seemingly anonymous examples, an integral part of our everyday life. Think of the chair, an interior design classic that turns into a pop icon when subtracted from the judges’ desk, folded and used, for example, as an entertainment tool in wrestling matches. 

The chair, changing in form and materials, has in fact continued to embody a classic folding design object, capable of harmonising functionality and aesthetic research through the centuries. There are 16th-century wooden ones, such as the one Lina Bo Bardi took with her to South America to furnish the Casa de Vidro in São Paulo, Brazil, but also the field chairs that were created for wartime purposes and later became design icons, such as Joseph B. Fenby’s Tripolina, which in turn inspired Vico Magistretti’s Kenya, although not foldable.

And, again, the director’s chair, source of a timeless iconography that we associate – among others – with Federico Fellini, but also Joe Colombo’s Multichair for B Line, or Giancarlo Piretti’s Plia, perhaps the most versatile and recognisable of these designs. 

Many are the recurring twists of such an approach to design, like the folding doors that distinguished many royal palaces and aristocratic mansions between the 16th and 19th century, then reinterpreted and distorted by Klemens Torggler with his Flip Panel Door. 

Interiors, as we know, are also a matter of trends. The fashion industry could not, in fact, avoid touching upon folding technology, making it one of its cornerstones. From Issey Miyake’s Bao Bao bag and Longchamp’s historic Pliage to Vibram’s Furoshiki footwear. It is no coincidence, after all, that the best trousers are those with a centre-crease.

How can we forget, then, sunglasses like the Persol 714, born as a folding and strictly functional accessory for Turin tram drivers in the 1950s and then elevated to one of the most recognisable frames thanks to Steve McQueen’s endorsement in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’. 

Foldable could also be the society of the future, as suggested by the dystopian vision of the author Hao Jingfang, whose ‘Foldable Beijing’ (2012) portrays a metropolis folded into three parts divided by social class, in order to better manage the now scarce resources of the planet.

Today, society has assimilated folding technologies so much almost to the point of no longer realising it. The smartphone – which can be fully considered a technological extension of our consciousness – can be an important starting point to rekindle a discourse on this design philosophy, and also of life. As a matter of fact, Honor has just set an important new milestone in its evolution.