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Gallery indexMaccaferri Group in Zola Predosa
A flexible building, near Bologna
Officine Maccaferri is a leading group in Italy and the world in the sector of geo-technical engineering and protection of the land.
In 2004, following an important growth process, has presented the need to build the new headquarters of two of the most dynamic companies of the group: Officine Maccaferri and SECI Energy.
A disuse site in Zola Predosa was the choice: 12 km from Bologna, where the company was founded in 1879.
In 2005 Progetto CMR, an Italian leader in integrated design, was commissioned to create the design of the new headquarters.
The issue of flexibility in using the space according to future organizational changes or the group’s internal
structure was given primary importance from the start, keeping focused on the needs of a group as dynamic as Maccaferri.
The area can be seen from the ring road and is set in an industrial context, though near an agricultural area. The area needed to be improved and not compromised by the design, while respecting the architectural style of the Zola Predosa industrial area.
It had to give recognizability to the group, including architecturally speaking; an attractive, practical building needed to convey the feeling of transparency and solidity, underscoring the importance of the group occupying it.
The solution was to make a multicolored glass building whose surface is partly transparent and partly reflective; some of the facade panels are obscured by glaze on the back.
The new headquarters, opened in October 2009, covers over 11,000 square meters and holds an office building, three small industrial buildings, including two for warehousing and a third converted for use as a cafeteria, and a larger shed for manufacturing.
The latter shed was almost completely maintained as it was, with only some minor technological upgrading. The three small sheds maintained their shapes but were shortened for better use of the space available for new buildings.
The office building was newly built because the one previously used for administration was inadequate for the group’s new needs. There is a large green area between the industrial buildings and the office buildings.
Facing this square are the administrative and production areas, bounded by a shelter for easy movement between the cafeteria and warehouses.
In 2004, following an important growth process, has presented the need to build the new headquarters of two of the most dynamic companies of the group: Officine Maccaferri and SECI Energy.
A disuse site in Zola Predosa was the choice: 12 km from Bologna, where the company was founded in 1879.
In 2005 Progetto CMR, an Italian leader in integrated design, was commissioned to create the design of the new headquarters.
The issue of flexibility in using the space according to future organizational changes or the group’s internal
structure was given primary importance from the start, keeping focused on the needs of a group as dynamic as Maccaferri.
The area can be seen from the ring road and is set in an industrial context, though near an agricultural area. The area needed to be improved and not compromised by the design, while respecting the architectural style of the Zola Predosa industrial area.
It had to give recognizability to the group, including architecturally speaking; an attractive, practical building needed to convey the feeling of transparency and solidity, underscoring the importance of the group occupying it.
The solution was to make a multicolored glass building whose surface is partly transparent and partly reflective; some of the facade panels are obscured by glaze on the back.
The new headquarters, opened in October 2009, covers over 11,000 square meters and holds an office building, three small industrial buildings, including two for warehousing and a third converted for use as a cafeteria, and a larger shed for manufacturing.
The latter shed was almost completely maintained as it was, with only some minor technological upgrading. The three small sheds maintained their shapes but were shortened for better use of the space available for new buildings.
The office building was newly built because the one previously used for administration was inadequate for the group’s new needs. There is a large green area between the industrial buildings and the office buildings.
Facing this square are the administrative and production areas, bounded by a shelter for easy movement between the cafeteria and warehouses.
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The office building consists of a central core that houses shared support functions and two wings for production. These wings conceptually embrace the entire area and are major features of the project as a whole, giving emphasis to the two main facades: one holding the entrance to the complex and the other visible from the heavily-trafficked road.
The new building includes a basement level and three above ground levels on an area of 4.200 square meters divided into two rectangular blocks, each about 14 meters deep and 30 meters long.
A central structure, like a large mechanical pivot around which the two buildings revolve, divide the buildings while combining their functions and allowing for both horizontal and vertical movement within them.
It is the core of the entire office complex, which becomes suddenly visible to welcome visitors: the reinforced concrete structure coveys an image of great solidity, while the large window of the entrance and the telescopic effect created on the ground floor frame the sheds and shelter behind them. This expresses the transparency and ethics of the industrial group within.
The “atrium-square”, paved with basalt stones, houses the reception area; the aerial structure of the steel staircase develops within a triple-height empty space and strongly defines it. This central structure also holds elevators, toilets and several shared meeting rooms.
The two rectangular buildings, designed to house the offices of two different companies of the Maccaferri Industrial Group, feature a structure of steel columns and in situ concrete floors.
The facades were designed according to bioclimatic standards; a heat shield insulates against the cold in winter and heat in summer, cladding the entire building. During the design phase, to ascertain the building’s exact exposure and the facades’ behavior, a solid model was placed on the area which made it possible to determine the exact effect of the sun at different times of day and in different seasons.
The solution was to design a fully glazed yet not completely transparent building. The most exposed facades are only 30% transparent, with the use of high performance spectrally selective glass, while the rest is filled with solid insulating panels, clad on the inside by glass back-glazed in the color of the structure of the facade and on the outside with glass back-glazed with different colors. This glass is separated from the panel and serves as a first barrier against sunlight and provides ventilation to prevent the insulation panel underneath it from overheating in the summer.
Varying shades of white, blue and gray accentuate the building’s lightness and its ability to fit into the context: the use of these colors makes the building blend attractively with the landscape around it. With sustainability in mind, this mosaic of colors and transparencies allows for the right degree of natural light and energy to come from the outside while concealing the line of spaces between the floors and the organization of the interior. Each floor is approximately 1400 square meters in area, optimal for people to move about horizontally.
The 135x135 cm grid plan, in keeping with the client’s work standards and needs, renders the building’s use very flexible. It determines all choices of floor plan division, the pacing of the windows, placement lighting, heating and cooling systems, and means the spaces can be free of the encumbrance of columns.
The new building includes a basement level and three above ground levels on an area of 4.200 square meters divided into two rectangular blocks, each about 14 meters deep and 30 meters long.
A central structure, like a large mechanical pivot around which the two buildings revolve, divide the buildings while combining their functions and allowing for both horizontal and vertical movement within them.
It is the core of the entire office complex, which becomes suddenly visible to welcome visitors: the reinforced concrete structure coveys an image of great solidity, while the large window of the entrance and the telescopic effect created on the ground floor frame the sheds and shelter behind them. This expresses the transparency and ethics of the industrial group within.
The “atrium-square”, paved with basalt stones, houses the reception area; the aerial structure of the steel staircase develops within a triple-height empty space and strongly defines it. This central structure also holds elevators, toilets and several shared meeting rooms.
The two rectangular buildings, designed to house the offices of two different companies of the Maccaferri Industrial Group, feature a structure of steel columns and in situ concrete floors.
The facades were designed according to bioclimatic standards; a heat shield insulates against the cold in winter and heat in summer, cladding the entire building. During the design phase, to ascertain the building’s exact exposure and the facades’ behavior, a solid model was placed on the area which made it possible to determine the exact effect of the sun at different times of day and in different seasons.
The solution was to design a fully glazed yet not completely transparent building. The most exposed facades are only 30% transparent, with the use of high performance spectrally selective glass, while the rest is filled with solid insulating panels, clad on the inside by glass back-glazed in the color of the structure of the facade and on the outside with glass back-glazed with different colors. This glass is separated from the panel and serves as a first barrier against sunlight and provides ventilation to prevent the insulation panel underneath it from overheating in the summer.
Varying shades of white, blue and gray accentuate the building’s lightness and its ability to fit into the context: the use of these colors makes the building blend attractively with the landscape around it. With sustainability in mind, this mosaic of colors and transparencies allows for the right degree of natural light and energy to come from the outside while concealing the line of spaces between the floors and the organization of the interior. Each floor is approximately 1400 square meters in area, optimal for people to move about horizontally.
The 135x135 cm grid plan, in keeping with the client’s work standards and needs, renders the building’s use very flexible. It determines all choices of floor plan division, the pacing of the windows, placement lighting, heating and cooling systems, and means the spaces can be free of the encumbrance of columns.
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The three existing sheds to the south were reduced in size, which both balance the relationships between the production and administrative areas in keeping with client needs and also allowed the entire project to develop in the part most visible from the high-traffic road and create an internal green space.
Nearly 9 feet tall, the sheds feature a “barrel roof” typical of industrial buildings.
Part of these spaces has been made into a cafeteria, for which the triple height was maintained.
Only a series of suspended colored panels, used to ensure optimal acoustics and reduce energy consumption, partially mitigates the visual effect without interfering with the perception of the building’s volume.
Externally, the sheds were clad with insulated, curved aluminum sheets that highlight their shape, making them glossy and modern-looking, without compromising the image of the old complex.
Aluminum’s reflective quality evokes the camouflaged, lightweight character of the office buildings, forming a quite close dialogue with them.
On the roof, shed windows were replaced with new thermal break reflective windows that naturally light the interior rooms. Windows cover the entire length of the walls; the facade of the entrance to the cafeteria is fully glazed and overlooks the large landscaped square while the other two sheds are solid and clad with sheet aluminum.
These interplays of transparencies and reflections and solids and voids, define the entire project and forge a new dialogue between old and new.
The new buildings are connected to existing sheds through a shelter of contoured iron plate uprights that are custom made and clad with corrugated steel; on the ground is a walkway of teak planks for outdoor use.
This makes it easier to move between the offices and cafeteria. The shelter conceptually links the old and the new and the production area and the administrative area, and defines the boundary of the square, which is partly landscaped and partly paved, a fresh green space for breaks and informal meetings.
Nearly 9 feet tall, the sheds feature a “barrel roof” typical of industrial buildings.
Part of these spaces has been made into a cafeteria, for which the triple height was maintained.
Only a series of suspended colored panels, used to ensure optimal acoustics and reduce energy consumption, partially mitigates the visual effect without interfering with the perception of the building’s volume.
Externally, the sheds were clad with insulated, curved aluminum sheets that highlight their shape, making them glossy and modern-looking, without compromising the image of the old complex.
Aluminum’s reflective quality evokes the camouflaged, lightweight character of the office buildings, forming a quite close dialogue with them.
On the roof, shed windows were replaced with new thermal break reflective windows that naturally light the interior rooms. Windows cover the entire length of the walls; the facade of the entrance to the cafeteria is fully glazed and overlooks the large landscaped square while the other two sheds are solid and clad with sheet aluminum.
These interplays of transparencies and reflections and solids and voids, define the entire project and forge a new dialogue between old and new.
The new buildings are connected to existing sheds through a shelter of contoured iron plate uprights that are custom made and clad with corrugated steel; on the ground is a walkway of teak planks for outdoor use.
This makes it easier to move between the offices and cafeteria. The shelter conceptually links the old and the new and the production area and the administrative area, and defines the boundary of the square, which is partly landscaped and partly paved, a fresh green space for breaks and informal meetings.
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The design process to build the new headquarters of the Maccaferri Industrial Group was conceived as a development of an integrated energy system in which architecture, structures and systems work in unison to create innovative, yet simple and replicable, solutions for high energy and environmental performance.
A savings of about 30% per user can be estimated compared to buildings built in compliance with legal technical limits and industry standards, bringing the time of return on the greater investment down to about 8 years.
In order to obtain high comfort levels in terms of temperature moisture, light and noise, efforts were made to support the building’s natural climate control behavior through solutions that effectively filter out the highs and lows of weather conditions and minimize energy requirements.
The use of thermal insulation systems on the envelope reduces winter heat loss, while the use of a system of spectrally selective clear glass and ventilated opaque panels for the facade reduces overheating of surfaces exposed to direct sunlight in the summer. In addition, to ensure optimal temperatures, use was made of a combined heating/cooling system, heating/cooling induction beams and displacement climate control systems with air flow from bottom to top.
With the goal of reducing primary energy use and improving energy efficiency in both winter and summer, building system choices were made to produce warm / cold fluids for climate control through multi-purpose units, to heat transfer fluids simutaneously available, for high level heat recovery and reduced size. The systems also use energy efficient electric motors to distribute air and water fluids depending on the climate control needs of different spaces.
Great care was taken to contain the maintenance and operating costs of the technical installations.
A savings of about 30% per user can be estimated compared to buildings built in compliance with legal technical limits and industry standards, bringing the time of return on the greater investment down to about 8 years.
In order to obtain high comfort levels in terms of temperature moisture, light and noise, efforts were made to support the building’s natural climate control behavior through solutions that effectively filter out the highs and lows of weather conditions and minimize energy requirements.
The use of thermal insulation systems on the envelope reduces winter heat loss, while the use of a system of spectrally selective clear glass and ventilated opaque panels for the facade reduces overheating of surfaces exposed to direct sunlight in the summer. In addition, to ensure optimal temperatures, use was made of a combined heating/cooling system, heating/cooling induction beams and displacement climate control systems with air flow from bottom to top.
With the goal of reducing primary energy use and improving energy efficiency in both winter and summer, building system choices were made to produce warm / cold fluids for climate control through multi-purpose units, to heat transfer fluids simutaneously available, for high level heat recovery and reduced size. The systems also use energy efficient electric motors to distribute air and water fluids depending on the climate control needs of different spaces.
Great care was taken to contain the maintenance and operating costs of the technical installations.
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Location: Zola Predosa (Bologna)
Client: Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri
Client representive: Giuliano Montagnini, Adriano Petrucci
Project design: 2005-2006
Completion: 2007-2009
Intended use: Offices, manufacturing
Buildable area: 11500 m2
Covered area
Offices: 1620 m2
Manufacturing: 4450 m2
SLP
Offices: 4000 m2
Manufacturing: 4300 m2
Parking Area: 1150 m2
Design by: Progetto CMR Massimo Roj Architects
Design Leader: Massimo Roj
Project Leader: Francesca Visioli
Project Architect: Maurizio Melchiori
Detailed Design: Lorena Iraldi, Stefano Manfredi
M&E Alfio Puglisi
Design Team: Federico Chiodaroli, Elena Caregnato, Darren John De Good, Chiara Domenici
Structural design: Claudio Toniolo
Project Management: Adriano Petrucci, Irene Magri, Elisabetta Fornesi
Photographs: Oscar Ferrari
Texts taken from the book "La modularità Dinamica - I nuovi uffici del Gruppo Maccaferri by Progetto CMR", edited by Emilia Prevosti e Fabrizio Todeschini - publisher Editrice Compositori.
Client: Gruppo Industriale Maccaferri
Client representive: Giuliano Montagnini, Adriano Petrucci
Project design: 2005-2006
Completion: 2007-2009
Intended use: Offices, manufacturing
Buildable area: 11500 m2
Covered area
Offices: 1620 m2
Manufacturing: 4450 m2
SLP
Offices: 4000 m2
Manufacturing: 4300 m2
Parking Area: 1150 m2
Design by: Progetto CMR Massimo Roj Architects
Design Leader: Massimo Roj
Project Leader: Francesca Visioli
Project Architect: Maurizio Melchiori
Detailed Design: Lorena Iraldi, Stefano Manfredi
M&E Alfio Puglisi
Design Team: Federico Chiodaroli, Elena Caregnato, Darren John De Good, Chiara Domenici
Structural design: Claudio Toniolo
Project Management: Adriano Petrucci, Irene Magri, Elisabetta Fornesi
Photographs: Oscar Ferrari
Texts taken from the book "La modularità Dinamica - I nuovi uffici del Gruppo Maccaferri by Progetto CMR", edited by Emilia Prevosti e Fabrizio Todeschini - publisher Editrice Compositori.
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