In Italy, not all ruins go back to the time of the Romans. Take this impressive seaside edifice in southern Sicily. Its original date of construction? 1909-1912.
Called the Fornace Penna, it was built as a brickworks. The location was purposeful: A nearby port facilitated export, a clay quarry was nearby, and the coastal winds made short work of the smokestack’s exhalations.
The facility was engineer-designed and efficient, employing over 100 workers. You might wonder how a 20th-century industrial structure has gone derelict after barely a century. Sadly, the factory ran for just a dozen years before an arsonist torched the place. The culprit was never found and the owner, Baron Guglielmo Penna, chose not to rebuild.
The structure remained, derelict, in the Penna family; in 2024 it was owned by no less than 26 Penna heirs. That year the Region of Sicily negotiated with all 26 family members and purchased the place. Now Reuse Italy, a social impact organization, is holding a design competition called Reuse the Kiln to repurpose it. They’re asking architects, designers and students to “to reinterpret the ruin as a civic center: a place for public services, with spaces for meetings, study, and work.”
Submissions will be in the form of a single A1 sheet. First prize is €3,000 (USD $3,300), 2nd prize is €1,500 (USD $1,650) and 3rd prize is €500 (USD $550). The deadline is August of this year.