Ormac Zanon, a leading company in northern Italy in the sale of earthmoving machinery, commissioned Essebi Studio with the renovation project for its company headquarters in the province of Brescia. The need at the origin of the intervention was to modernise the building both from a functional and therefore energy and plant engineering point of view. The project also included the restyling of the façade, which gave the Headquarters a new image, without disrupting the structure of the existing building.
Inside, the building houses the new offices designed to be bright, welcoming and practical. More natural lighting and better use of artificial lighting, space sharing, versatility and fluidity of workstations were the key words of the project. Important modernisations were also made in terms of plant engineering for maximum efficiency and functionality.
The redistribution of the interior spaces is aesthetically translated in the choice to favour the use of glass partition walls which allow the rooms to be open and airy. The furnishings are characterised by the contrast between dark and light tones: the grey colour of the floors emphasises the light tones of the walls, the LED lighting system, the neutral coloured furniture with light wood inserts. The contrast is also played out in terms of materiality: the wood of the furniture marries the stone effect of the floors, made with Cerdisa‘s Stonemix ceramic. The collection is perfectly suited to the new corporate offices thanks to its special colour variations that recreate the authentic heterogeneity of natural stone. In the Grey colour in the 60×60 format, the line is perfectly suited to the minimalist environments of the new Ormac Zanon headquarters thanks to its tone-on-tone shades.
In addition to playing a fundamental role from an aesthetic point of view, the flooring is a key element in the project from a functional and plant engineering point of view. In fact, the designers of the Essebi studio decided to create a raised floor system to facilitate the new plant distribution and make the technological system more accessible, both for maintenance and for future changes to the work stations. “As a firm, we have been using and suggesting floating floors to clients for years,” says Architect Giancarlo Scalvini of Studio Essebi. “Our first project with a raised floor dates back to 1987. This choice of ours was dictated by the need for flexibility and maintenance of the office facilities, which in our opinion, are a pulsating and constantly changing element like the activities themselves. The choice of the type of floor was dictated by a need for a technological aspect and formal cleanliness, given the architectural context in which the offices are inserted”.
In the raised system, the ceramic tiles are placed on the surface of a floor package made on a silicate core, and surrounded by aluminium closures. The supporting structure is realised with a network of adjustable feet and steel crosspieces, making it possible to adjust the height according to the course of the pre-existing floor slab and the needs of use, while obtaining high technical characteristics.
