At the heart in the multitenant Symbiosis complex, recently sprung up in Milan’s renovated Brenta district, LVMH Beauty’s Italian division has moved its headquarters inside a 4,000-square-meter space entirely redesigned by Il Prisma.
From individual, non-communicating offices, it was decided to move to a more open, flexible and inclusive model designed to encourage exchange and sharing. The LVMH group thus chose a headquarters that fully represents its values of excellence, innovation and social responsibility; principles translated by Il Prisma into spaces with high standards of comfort, in full respect of people’s health and biodiversity.
“We chose to change headquarters because we felt the need to be able to work in a space that was, also in terms of design, a direct expression of our values: innovation, savoir-faire and sustainability,” – comments Giuseppe Oltolini, Country General Manager of LVMH Beauty Italia – “We are pleased that Il Prisma agreed to take on this challenge with us by designing offices that were both the ideal home for our magnificent brands but also a sharing space with open, flexible and remodifiable spaces, also suitable for new ways of working such as smart-working. Finally, the terrace, a tribute to biodiversity and at the same time a work and leisure space available to all our employees“.
The spaces are divided between large common areas and rooms dedicated to individual maisons, including Parfums Christian Dior, Givenchy, Guerlain and other young brands with strong potential such as Benefit Cosmetics and Make Up For Ever.
The spacious and bright entrance welcomes visitors into a relaxed and elegant atmosphere. The glass window enhances the continuity with the terrace, which opens behind the reception, creating a visual connection between inside and outside, with lights that change at different times of the day and season.
Open space, areas dedicated to specialized courses, luminous portals customized according to the character of the Maison, spaces dedicated to work such as phone booths, meeting rooms and classrooms for concentration. All designed to put the quality of work first, reflecting the design studio’s claim: Design Human Life.
The nearly 2,000-square-meter garden-terrace was designed specifically for the well-being of the 170 employees who will work in the Milan office, giving them an open space, in contact with nature, where they can nurture their creativity in harmony with lush, rich vegetation. Aromatic herbs enveloping a scenic garden strip, essences positioned to flood the space with colors and scents 365 days a year, all surrounded by informal seating where they can relax and relate. An area of quiet specially designed to give workers ample space to meditate and exercise, thanks in part to a lawn area and a platform.
Of particular importance in this context is the new space dedicated to Workcafé, with a bar inside run by the Cometa Foundation, a social work that provides training and job placement for boys and girls with disabilities.
“Being chosen by LVMH, to interpret its concept of beauty in the design of the new Italian headquarters makes us particularly proud. With this project we tried to give a new interpretation of the concept of beauty by telling, through the spaces and experiences we imagined, many of its facets. Beauty that goes beyond the aesthetic experience and becomes a place of encounter, of relationship, where people can share their sociality and contaminate themselves with new stimuli, experience the culture of the group but also recognize themselves in the identity of the brands they work for. Social beauty, inclusive and open, which invites people to experience the thrill of the widening gaze on diversity. Finally, sensory beauty, which is born and nourished by the continuous contact with nature, with its changing cycles, colors and scents“, told Stefano Carone, Managing Partner of Il Prisma.
For more information, visit www.ilprisma.com.
CREDITS
Project: LVMH Beauty Italia headquarters
Studio: Il Prisma
Location: Milan
Year: 2022
Client: LVMH P&C Group Italy
Surface and floors: offices (floor 3 + floor 4): about 3500 sqm; terrace: about 2000 sqm
Project team: Stefano Carone (Client Leader) Annalisa Calastretti (BU Director) Michele Pini (BU Director) Flavio Gilberti (Project Coordinator) Ottavia Pelloni (Strategist) Francesca Marino, Ilaria Stroppa, Andrea Lucchi (Architects) Andrea Failla (Project Coordinator) Laura Iacuzzo, Paola Rodorigo (Project Construction Manager), Mauro Sullam (Technical Architect) Pierluigi Di Felice, Djordje Jokic (3D Artist)
Photos: Carola Merello, Vito Corvasce
