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The project, which won a design competition organised by the insurance company Itas Mutua, was carried out on a plot of land of Le Albere district in Trento. The six-storey building has four floors above ground and two, pre-existing, in the basement. Basement represented an important fixed point to refer to, that required perfect morphological and structural compatibility with the new building. For this reason, the entire above-ground volume (with the exception of two staircase cores) was built in a steel structure.
The treatment of the façades reinterprets two themes that were already present in the district designed by RPBW. On the ground floor, the ground connection is glazed and characterised by slender sequential V-shaped structures that 'lift' the building on all sides, both elements that make the block a symbol of purity and transparency. On the upper floors, the characterising theme is the rhythmic and sequential verticality. Here the building envelope consists of prefabricated cells and is animated by the vertical lines of the external triangular lesenes, which are made of extruded aluminium on a specific design and painted in three different hues.
All design choices were driven by the search for sustainability and indoor comfort. The building, which is entirely domotically controlled, is connected to the district heating plant and is extremely energy efficient. Summer and winter air conditioning is provided by a radiant system: underfloor heating on the ground and third floors and ceiling heating in the offices. All habitable rooms are equipped with natural and mechanical ventilation with air handling units that prevent leakage between supply and exhaust air flow, limiting the spread of contaminants and viruses.
The building houses a plurality of functions. The ground floor, characterised by its double height, is reserved for collective uses: the building's entrance hall, an auditorium with 250 seats, and a commercial space which houses the official Aquila Basket Trento store. The two upper floors are instead intended for workspaces, among which are open-spaces, single and double offices, and meeting rooms. Lastly, the top level of the building houses a hall for special events, enhanced by a large rooftop terrace, open to the neighbourhood and the mountain landscape surrounding the city. The outdoor terraces are characterised by the presence of greenery, in particular beech trees, chosen to expressly recall the native vegetation of Trentino. The interior design was planned with extreme coherence to the overall stylistic lines of the building, in the constant search for a formal minimalism which is reflected in the choice of colours, coverings and full-height glass partitions. The central staircase figuratively dominates the large empty space overlooking the hall, assuming the role of functional and symbolic heart of the entire building. Surrounding it, on each floor, are horizontal corridors that lead to the offices, organised comb-like around the perimeter of the building.
In the realization of the ITAS Forum, the Gruppo ITAS Assicurazioni aimed to combine architectural ambition, environmental sustainability, innovation and integration into the district. The result is an architecture at the cutting-edge in many respects designed to be a connection point among the Albere, the city and the world. Far from being a mere real estate investment, at the exclusive use of the Group, but the ITAS Forum provides rather opportunities for meeting in an uncommon place.
Founded in 2001 in Trento, Studio BBS is now run by Claudio Battisti (1971, degree in Architecture at IUAV), Michele Bella (1983, degree in Building Engineering-Architecture in Trento) and Massimo Scartezzini (1973, degree in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic).
Over the years the Studio has designed and built many buildings, both public and private. It also boasts several interior and exhibition design projects. It has participated in numerous competitions, both open and by invitation, collecting many awards and as many placements.
Studio BBS's approach is always characterised by the search for a careful balance between the creative and the pragmatic dimensions, in the deep conviction that architecture must always be the trait d'union between form and function, intuition and concreteness, tradition and contemporaneity.
