Designed by the Hamburg’s BRT Architekten, the new head office of building-component manufacturer Frener & Reifer in Bressanone, northern Italy is a statement of corporate identity. The key feature of the new building for this specialist manufacturer of avant-garde double envelope curtain wall and roof systems in steel and glazing is that all company activities are housed under one roof and within a structure made from the company’s own envelope and curtain wall systems. The ground floor contains all the production and assembly areas. The upper floor is occupied by management, design, administration and sales offices and a 50 seat meeting room and cafeteria in centre plan. The square-grid ground plan is the essence of clarity and functionality. Steel and glazing are the main construction materials. The structural frame is in steel with different size beams; the double envelope elevations have opaque external curtain walls. The main entrance, positioned to one side of the elevation, is marked out by protruding steel uprights while the opaque curtain wall has a pattern of oblique coloured lines. The upper storey environments are organised around two inner patios that provide natural daylight and offer pleasant views from the meeting room and cafeteria. Materials on the interior vary: carpeting for the offices, wooden flooring in the corridor, highly transparent glass for the outer corridor curtain wall, and steel panels enclosing the senior management offices.
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