From the outset, the client – GAD Global Assistance Development – identified two core principles at the heart of the project: transparency and privacy. An apparent dichotomy that the studio transforms into a powerful design driver, shaping a spatial system capable of guiding users through clear and legible paths while simultaneously ensuring the protection of privacy.
The project fits within TANZI ARCHITECTURE’s ongoing research into the juxtaposition of pure, archetypal elements within compact environments. This approach gives rise to organic volumes—sculpted, cut, stitched together, and softened—that challenge the traditional functional and stylistic paradigms of the office. These plastic elements define a fluid layout, articulating services and meeting rooms through curves and recesses that naturally guide movement.
On the ground floor, a large sculptural element integrates the technical room, restrooms, and cloakroom, transforming its external surface into a true communication canvas for the GAD logo, illuminated and clearly visible from the internal courtyard. From here, the central staircase develops, defined by a micro-perforated metal balustrade that accompanies the space up to the top level, allowing natural light to filter down from the shed roof above.
Within the open-plan area, the volumes become fully glazed and accommodate the meeting rooms, where the concept of transparency is fully realized without compromising privacy. The use of extra-clear glass with specific sound-insulating properties, custom-designed for the project, ensures complete acoustic and visual confidentiality during meetings.
Above these volumes, an organically shaped mezzanine houses new workstations with a privileged view over the double-height space below. The project’s sense of fluidity extends to the furniture design as well: many elements are reconfigurable, with modular central seating conceived to adapt to different uses – break areas, informal workstations, quick meetings – resulting in a dynamic, flexible workplace in constant evolution.
For more information, visit www.tanziarchitecture.com
CREDITS
Project: Q12 GAD Office
Studio: TANZI ARCHITECTURE
Location: Milan, Italy
Year: 2024–2025
Photography: Giulia Pescosolido
