REUSE OF A BUILDING FOR THE NEW HEADQUARTERS OF VARESENEWS
The competition project had as its object the transformation of a former school in the hamlet of Sant’Alessandro a Castronno: a small center discreetly connected to the communication routes that go up the Arno valley connecting Varese to Milan.
From the very beginning, we wanted to connect the new headquarters of Materia to the network of relationships that the site maintains at various scales with its surroundings. This guided the gesture at the base of our project: the violation of the building envelope and the creation of a continuity of public space through the building.
To the north, a new institutional and urban front replaces the old portico: from here you can access the internal Agora and the emporium.
In the Agora, steps and ramps articulate the internal levels, creating a public setting designed to host events and meetings as well as daily and informal encounters of people, lending itself to a great variety of uses – from meetings of a hundred or more people to individual work and study, from a coffee and a game of cards to the possibility of finding shelter from the heat on summer afternoons. The small library and the reception/cafeteria directly overlook the agora.
The elements of the interior landscape are composed in a tension between formal rigor and variety of spatial situations. The ground is paved with the same material as the exteriors, to underline their continuity.
The ramps make all levels of the school accessible without the aid of mechanical systems, which were immediately discarded as they were considered the last resort in the construction of a space usable by all.
The Agora extends outdoors through a pergola and a new landscape design, which ‘doubles’ the interior space on the outside. The pergola provides the backdrop for spaces articulated by seating and plant elements.
The garden, accessible from the south, is a stopping point for slow routes in the area and hosts the end of the ‘via delle Api’ route, for which it is proposed to host the terminal installation: a raised piece of land that allows you to walk at ground level for a few metres.
Returning inside, the agora distributes on one side the spaces reserved for the editorial staff and on the other the community spaces.
The editorial office is located in the east wing of the school, which has been made more permeable by the construction of a series of spaces that house the workstations, the management, the meeting rooms, and the spaces for the commercial office.
The spaces of the actual editorial office are unified by a large sound-absorbing cork panel that also houses the lighting systems. At the end, a large window extends towards the south, taking up the formal theme of the pergola. The technical spaces and phone booths for private calls are contained in special niches.
A kitchen is planned for the editorial staff which, in case of events, can act as a support point for catering services.
Finally, the west wing hosts community spaces: a series of functions dedicated to different users and realities: smart working stations, conference rooms for lessons and association meetings, recording room for audiovisual content and podcasts.
The classrooms, facing west, will be protected by external awnings and a row of deciduous trees.
Year: 2024
Structure: Traditional
Client: Private
State: Project
Location: Varese