Designed by Peter Pichler Architecture, the recently completed Bonfiglioli headquarters in Bologna is a tangible testimony to the potential of sustainable design in the industrial sector. Located in the north of the metropolitan area in Calderara di Reno, this industrial HQ is the latest addition to the “EVO” plant, included in the Clementino Bonfiglioli Site and dedicated to the realization of the historical products of Bonfiglioli Group, a manufacturer of gearboxes and other precision components providing cutting-edge industrial automation solutions, precision machinery and drive systems within the framework of renewable energy use. This dual commitment to technological innovation and environmental safeguard also underpins Peter Pichler Architecture’s design, whose smart, sustainable, bioclimatic geometry is based on circular-economy principles and clean energy use.
As well as achieving excellent energy efficiency and occupant comfort, the project brief had to meet a further key request from the client: maximum flexibility of all work spaces. For this, a load-bearing system was devised, creating column-free interiors and a central court – a feature of the other buildings making up the industrial complex. The building’s steel weight-bearing exoskeleton creates the rhythmic pattern of the glazed curtain walls. The structural frame also includes two interior reinforced-concrete stiffening cores containing escalators, staircases and service environments. This basic frame was then molded to maximize the north-facing façade in order to exploit as much indirect northern light as possible, this being the best way to provide visual well-being in the office spaces inside. In addition, the north-facing elevations look out onto the company’s production plant, its related offices and the R&D department, the vibrant heart of this environmentally compliant EVO plant.
The strategic massing translates...
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