Headquarters

In 1997 we asked Mario Cucinella to design our new technical department and office block extension in Recanati. We wanted an 'environmental architectural complex’ that would blend in discreetly with the landscape and we achieved that with a structure that has allowed us to reduce energy consumption and improve living comfort. In fact, solar lighting is enough to illuminate the block even if the sky is cloudy and the structure can be ventilated naturally via an inflow of outside air.

“The idea of transparency is linked to a desire to show and feel that this is a place where people are working and designing. These open, inter-communicating spaces allow the interiors to be “seen and understood”. There is a continuous exchange of experiences, assessments and decisions. I believe that participating in the experience of everyone, enhances everyone, even from the point of view of professional qualification.”
 

After a number of years, in 2010, Maurizio Varratta designed the Light Laboratory: 6000 sqm, 4 floors, a showroom to exhibit iGuzzini “light” and a versatile conference hall that can be altered to suit different audience numbers. This multi-purpose building blends into the existing landscape and observes all the modern requirements of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. The design features a double shell system with a deep air cavity that allows energy to be accumulated in the winter and excess heat to be discharged in the summer. At the time, the building’s energy and environmental quality levels were recognised as the best ever for ITACA protocol offices, with a score of 3.5 (in a scale of -1 to 5).

"We researched technical solutions that were sustainable from the point of view of both the building’s operational performance and its design and construction. The building’s careful positioning in relation to the sun, its high efficiency screens and the overall design of its light laboratories, all indicate the importance of the building as an example of advanced research.”

“We needed a multi-purpose building with an unsophisticated morphology, a “cube” that would blend in with the existing industrial complex and also meet all the most modern requirements of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.”