The philosophy of structure and façade specialist Simeon is rooted in the conviction that even if innovative, building structures and their envelopes must be fashioned to their context like a tailor-made suit. Alongside the extensive use of traditional materials, such as steel and glass, cell-type or mullion and transom façades with transparent or solid infills, the technical and engineering know-how of this company from Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region includes the use of unconventional materials: timber and ceramics, marble, Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) and terracotta. Whatever the material, the attention to detail produces works of architectural excellence.
Among Simeon’s latest projects are the Arboretum office campus in Nanterre La Défense, and a new luxury hotel in Forte dei Marmi, under construction. Commissioned by WO2 and designed by Nicolas Laisné Architectes, DREAM, Leclercq Associés and Hubert & Roy Architectes, the Arboretum campus on the outskirts of Paris is an ambitious, low-impact real estate development. Every feature – like, for example, tall windows and large terraces that open up to the 25-ha park all around – has been designed to reduce CO2 emissions and create a new link between workplace and nature. A timber envelope further blends the complex with its natural surroundings. Developed in partnership with a French manufacturer, the cell façade of timber and recycled aluminum alloy contributes to the building’s green footprint, as do the innovative technologies developed by WO2 to control carbon emissions. Immersed in greenery and constructed largely of a natural material, the office campus goes a long way to ensuring the psycho-physical well-being of its occupants.
The second project, a luxury hotel in Versilia on Italy’s northwestern coast, designed by Archea Associati, projects a clean elegant image starting from its external shell made of white-painted operable rectangular metal frames of differing widths and a façade of floral-patterned tiles. The varied-size extruded and white (RAL 9010) glazed tiles were randomly applied to the façade.
The glazed ground floor comprises transparent entrances alongside back-painted glazing in front of the supporting masonry columns, giving the impression that the upper stories are hovering suspended above the base. The hotel will be completed by a panoramic infinity pool on the roof.
SIMEON
Via Mameli, 9 – I – 33041 – Aiello del Friuli (UD)
Tel. +39 0421 570611
www.grupposimeon.it