Fantoni company cafeteria

The Fantoni campus in Osoppo is a wonderful example of fruitful cooperation between a leading Italian business and an architect. It started back in the 1970s, when Gino Valle - the one side of a duet, with Herbert Ohl, that designed the distinctive 45° that marks out Fantoni furniture - began designing the buildings that, piece by piece, were added to the campus as the company grew and its space requirements increased and changed. The original three buildings that house the canteen and offices came to be flanked by new production areas. 

The cooperation has changed, developed over time - even including work following a 1976 earthquake to shore up some structures - but it has always between denoted by enormous synergy.  

Gino Valle departed this world over ten years ago, but Fantoni still entrusted Valle Architetti Associati, now under the guidance of Pietro Valle, to revamp the space used for the company canteen.  The work required overhauling the kitchens and bringing them into line with regulations, reorganising the cafeteria space and creating a free flow serving area. The result was a new, powerful sense of identity and unity for this large space, while also creating a series of intimate, private multifunctional areas that can even be used for non-canteen uses. 

The false ceiling is a key element in the design, created with square, sound-absorbing Isle panels. Four colors were selected - light grey, dark grey, light blue, blue - and placed at two different heights creating a suspended mosaic while the original ceiling was given a lick of charcoal grey paint. The soundproof panels are interspersed with spherical lights that create accents in the geometrical composition of the ceiling. 

The sprawling space of the cafeteria is divided into sections by 1.50 m high partition walls - ad hoc designs from the Quaranta5 collection - to create smaller, more private spaces for lunch.  These subsections are characterised by the colors of the perimeter furnishings: blue, light blue or white. The “hallways”, located in relation to the tie rods added following the 1976 earthquake, are marked by grey partition walls. A 2m-high see-through wall divides the eating area from the free flow serving area, thus separating them while creating a visual connection. 

The back wall is decorated with a mural by Carlo Ciussi with a series of diagonal white lines against a blue background. This was a posthumous donation from the artist who, along with Gino Valle, helped the Fantoni campus to grow over the years. 

 

FANTONI 

Via Europa Unita, 1 - I - 33010 Osoppo (UD)

Tel. +39 0432 9761 - Fax +39 0432 986246

E-mail: [email protected] - www.fantoni.it