HomeArchitectureSARCA 235, Scandurra Studio designs the architecture of well-being

SARCA 235, Scandurra Studio designs the architecture of well-being

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Sarca 235 is the new project designed by Scandurra Studio in the context of the transformation of the industrial area in the North-East of the city of Milan: the renovation of an existing building based on simple, dimensional and geometric elements so as to create new Coima office spaces.

Alessandro Scandurra explains:

Today, functional standards have changed, as have the value that a company’s building can express. The main idea is to reopen the building to the city and to rebuild an urban experience at street level. I leaned on the established models of office buildings from the 60s, trying to move beyond the formal theme and focus on a few simple, expressive elements: air, which results from the transparency of materials, and light, which is refracted by the materials used in the stairwell structures.”

The main entrance opens onto Viale Sarca, where an urban square now makes the double-height central lobby more visible and connects the building directly to this street, while a large mechanical gate ritualizes its opening to the city: the guiding principles of rationality, luminosity and flexibility are fundamental. 

To improve the acceptance of the hall system, within the interior spaces a “processionality” has been created in the crossing paths between the spaces—beginning from the exterior, where gold and light dominate, until reaching the upper floors of the offices, where one is immersed in the brightness and transparency of the work spaces. 

For the changes to the facade, Scandurra Studio worked on the finishes, materials, and colours—using corrugated, gold-toned sheet metal, the panels of which, mounted with the rippled surface facing different directions, defines a characteristic surface in the stairwell structures, the entry, and the covered walkway. In this case gold interprets the maximum expression of a natural element, the light. 

The rationality and quality of the building promote an architecture of well-being and give shape to a representative building, strongly characterized by a decorative metal coating obtained from a particular type of work done with the pigments and textures of sheet metal. The image is that of a dynamic and transparent building with a contemporary classicism that unites functionality with a high degree of formal value. 

Finally, the aspects of sustainability and environmental compatibility are also paramount and according to Alessandro Scandurra they are tied to, “a sense of responsibility that we cannot avoid; the building is certified LEED Platinum, because not only must it be energy efficient and technologically efficient, it must also address all of the levels that touch on human well-being. These are systems at different scales, which start with the building’s efficiency and follow through to the new needs that have led to an evolution in architecture in its socio-economic changes. Action and reaction, for sensitive architecture that dematerializes to become a support for living. Through technology we have created a certain degree of environmental comfort, integrating it with architectural elements and resulting in simple and comfortable spaces. This well-being is perceived and not displayed.”