Manifatture Gamba Showroom

This project involves the expansion of the premises of Italian manufacturer Manifatture Gamba in an area adjacent to its existing factory. It includes a new main entrance, additional office space, and a showroom to provide a better environment for clients and to consolidate corporate image through the effective display of its products.
The new construction is on two floors and connected to the existing building at ground floor level via a courtyard, which includes lawn and paved surfaces as well as the new entrance. The showroom is located on the upper floor. This is an open, well-lit space, with floor-to-ceiling glazing on its two shorter sides.
The project turned restrictions imposed by local planning regulations into a major feature of the design: the building’s shape, its long, irregular plan, and its volume, distinguished by its angled walls, are all significant architectural accents, creating a building that is recognizable, dynamic and that identifies the company. When viewed from a distance, the most prominent feature of the building is its projecting upper floor, with the horizontal thrust of the building emphasized by the contrasting materials and colours of the walls at both levels.
On the ground floor, the set back exterior walls, the Serena stone finish, and the limited amount of glazed areas (while the shorter sides are only partially glazed, they form a kind of illuminated corridor between narrow ribbon windows) create an almost solid base for the construction, while also protecting the office area. In the courtyard at the front, the interaction between the structures finished in Serena stone distinguish the composition: from one side of the entrance, the structure forms a wall, while from the other, the perpendicular positioning of the structures creates open spaces.
On the upper level, the horizontal extension of the rendered wall is interrupted by the glazed area in the middle, which seamlessly melds with the roof. Glazing and ‘skylights’ frame the sky where the interior and exterior merge, polarizing in the floor-to-ceiling windows on the smaller sides: the views over the Montefeltro hills and the Adriatic become a part of the experience of visiting the showroom and a strategic element for the company.
A spiral staircase, located at one end of the building, connects the two floors. Its outer shell creates an opaque volume while its transparent balusters create an impression of slenderness, forming a kind of an analogy to the way the project’s key elements are juxtaposed, including its furnishings.