MAC 9 - ZURICH INSURANCE COMPANY ITALIAN HEADQUARTERS - SCANDURRA

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MAC 9

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PROJECT

Name: : : Mac 9 – Zurich Insurance Company Italian Headquarters

Location: Milano, Italy

Year: 2006 – 2009

Typology: : Offices

Area: : GBA: 36.000 sqm
Team:

BMS Progetti
Ariatta ingegneria dei sistemi

Customer: Zurich

The new headquarters of Zurich Italy is located in the masterplan of the former Carlo Erba area, once confined within the block and used only for industrial production. The possibility of opening up this physically enclosed perimeter and merging it with the city fabric has influenced every design decision made regarding the building: the entire complex is conceived as permeable and an integral part of the park;

the public and internal portion of the area is intended as a passageway, not just a destination, where community space merges with private space.

The geodesic structure is a single curved surface that covers the space obtained by subtracting volume from the building. Its profile is a non-form, a crystallisation of the space with an eccentric effect. The structure is designed to cover a very large area without pillars, extending the facade: the transparency of the glass and its reflections rise from the facade to the cladding. A primary frame generates the main curve, and a secondary grid is connected to the cladding, the elevations, and the facade.

The base is conceived as part of the landscape, fluidly crossing the volumes above, connecting the different levels of existing structures and integrating the spaces intended for the archive and functions in closer contact with the street in a complex system of pathways leading to the large central space, a garden with tall trees overlooking the internal courtyard.

A giant line of pillars directly supports the first floor, consisting of the raised square and a large terrace overlooking the garden. It houses the company’s community functions, a hub for circulation pathways to the main and secondary office nuclei. The volumes housing the offices are designed to optimise the portion of space devoted to distribution in relation to the useful surface area.