A highly eco-friendly building for Solvay Italia’s head office
With a floor area of 2,760 m2 on three floors, and including offices, meeting rooms and a roof garden, the new building makes use of a range of leading-edge technologies.
The aesthetics mirrors its energy-conscious design. The building has a steel-based construction using a "blue wall" system: double glazing combined with a vinyl “skin” positioned 80 cm from the outside wall; this ensures the cooling by convection in the summer and the heating by a greenhouse effect in winter. Its compact size keeps heat losses to a minimum, while the central light-well stimulates natural internal ventilation. Photovoltaic cells in the roofing will produce 60% of the building’s electrical needs.
Cristofani, the architect, paints the picture: “By exploiting the quality of the glass, the whole suggests a giant crystal, set in a mineral matrix.
What I see there is material being transformed or reinvented by the magic of Solvay’s chemistry. The two parts are having a dialogue with each other, bringing the surprising building to life, as if springing up from making a discovery, like a mineral emerging when the earth is removed.”
