Pitch-roofed glass houses link the office blocks
These days, sustainability is of the utmost importance when it comes to design. And what comes with sustainability? Open-plan spaces, biophilic atmospheres and workspaces free of hierarchies, of course.
The Prysmian Group, one of the world’s leading companes in the manufacturing of cables for the energy, telecommunications and optic-fibre industries, recently embarked on its sustainable and harmonious transition when its Milan headquarters were designed by architect Maurizio Varratta and DEGW, a brand belonging to the Lombardini22 Group.
Before the redevelopment, the old Prysmian workspace was functioning in a highly traditional manner, which inadequately reflected the advanced digital work under way. The company identified the need for a sustainable and ambitious conversion that would provide a new office space with no hierarchies.
Natural light brings out the colour scheme
The result? A vast extroverted space, splayed open to the outside world in order to advocate a clear shift in the company’s working ideals. Alessandro Adamo, Lombardini22 partner and director of DEGW, explains how this was a necessary move: “The transfer gave the opportunity to use space as a catalyst for change,” he says.
Firms such as DEGW are always looking at new ways of utilising space, he explains: “Using space has been promoted to see the benefits of working in a new, future-oriented way, shifting hierarchy concepts to teamwork, from closed space to open space and from private space to social space.”
He says: “DEGW’s method is focused around the latest means of working, based on mobility, informality and sharing.”
Open-plan spaces create an air of transparency