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Home Where we workValue Teams’ Milan Offices |
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Value Teams’ Milan Offices
 The building at via Vespri Siciliani 9 is recognised both by the particular façade with the large base in stainless steel and the window frames in orange sheet metal, and by the internal green areas which are a sort of garden for the entire block.
Finally, the building respects the most advanced criteria of environmental sustainability with a view to reducing atmospheric pollution and reducing energy consumption, due to the characteristics of the building wrap, better use of natural light and to innovate plant systems which foresee reduced power consumption.
The complex consists of three buildings of geometrically separate forms which are functionally interconnected through various passageways.
In town planning terms, this intervention did not radically change the existing volumes while, through re-definition of the perimeters and measurement of the buildings, it reviewed the ratios between them and delivered ample green areas between the buildings.
The relationship with the city is sought and re-affirmed, differently each time, both in terms of the urban spaces and within the construction weave.
The decision to build on the street front, respecting alignment with the adjacent buildings, thus establishing a direct, non mediated relationship with the public space, indicates the will to retie the links to the city and its’ parts, between common spaces and those for private use.
The rigorous, abstract language of the façade, with its’ stainless steel base and a contemporary redesign for the framed windows, is an attempt to recompose a variegated urban ambience in style terms, and it also delivers a strong element of recognition.
The entrance area interrupts the base in the central section and projects inwards, connecting the street front building with the other two to the rear. This route, marked, in sequence, first by a Mediterranean garden, then by a plant wall 20 metres in height, anticipates and renders perceivable the architectural and environmental character of the inner spaces right from the pavement, with significant portions of green space are framed by more open fronts in steel, timber and glass.
The lower buildings, with the repetition of façades of the same design and construction, interact, also in functional terms. Their roofs, and the intervening spaces, treated as theme gardens, present themselves as a new, large green space recognisable as the fulcrum of the entire block. This architectural solution, in an area suffocated by excessive construction density, is also functional in qualifying the facings of the new building towards the external spaces.
As in the past, (as witnessed by older residents), the previous “Virginio Rimoldi & C.” sewing machine factory, was able become an integral part of local life, today it was felt important to find a kind of relationship between production and the city, defined not only by the social dynamics determined by the presence of a new, numerous group of workers, but also by the very configuration of the building itself, facing onto the street.
 The design theme of an office building was approached, in line with the most evolved sociology of work studies, in pursuit of a qualitative standard, defined by the environmental characters which contribute to the psycho-physical well being of the users, including, thus, the geometry and proportions of the internal spaces, the typologies of natural and artificial lighting and the modality of inside-outside relations, further, naturally, to the characteristics of the technological plant. We sought to counter pose to the concept of building-machine which often deliberately explicitly declares its’ usage destination another juts as efficient, yet of a more domestic character, where man and his needs, and not merely production, were the focus of the project.
Greenery and natural Light
The presence of green areas and abundant natural lighting, as a structuring element of the building, corresponds to the will to deliver continuity between the internal and external parts of the building, forcing the confines of the wrap to the benefit of a “deeper” perception of the spaces than their real, physical dimension. Winter garden, green wall, green roofs, patio and greenhouses, always in a position to be perceived as a constant presence or as the focus of the main internal routes, together constitute the punctuation and the fil rouge of the composition. The perception of natural light is sought and pursued at all possible angles, to render the internal environments luminous and lively.
The space typology
 To respond to new productive exigencies, rather than absolute theoretical flexibility (non differentiated free planning), the internal spaces are articulated in various typologies of subspaces, different and alternative by size and position. Individual offices, small open spaces, large open spaces single floors and finally large, double height open spaces, divided by equipped walls which contain structural elements, planet and fitted storage spaces, positioned coherently with the structure and the peculiar nature of the building, further to offering diverse modes of work organisation, they generate ever different work environments with specific identities.
The building is designed to environmental sustainability criteria and intended to cut energy consumption and reduce atmospheric pollution. To make this possible, before execution of the full project, a study of its’ physical behaviour and potential energy needs was undertaken, to enable definition from the start of the technological measures need to improve the passive behaviour of the wrap.
Consequently, a radiating ceiling conditioning system was adopted which exploits cold water drawn directly from the water table (then discharged into the Olona river at the end of the cycle), combined with reversible heat pumps and exchangers. Thus, there are no boilers nor refrigerating machines. The benefits derive from the use of low power and thus low electricity supply costs, with an absence of air convection movement and noise.
The electrical and electronic devices, BMS (Building Management System) type, are in line with the most elevated standards available on the market, and these too, optimising the use of the functions governed (temperature, humidity, external shades, emergency lighting and intrusion prevention), contribute enormously to containing energy costs.
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