INDUSTRIAL HUB is a project about the renovation of a building located in the industrial area of Modica.
The customer is “Teknogas s.r.l”, one of the most important local companies in the trade and distribution of gaseous fuels and derived products.
The project comes from the company's need to expand the plant by purchasing the adjacent building to convert it into a new representative headquarters.
The aim of the intervention was to give the headquarters a new image to represent the contemporary logic of the company, without incurring obvious references to industrial archaeology.
The existing building consisted of two structures: the first, rectangular in plan, facing the street and arranged on two levels, originally used as offices; the second is an industrial shed located at the back, where workshop activities take place which is not part of the recovery project.
The intervention strategy was to lighten the ground-floor facade by demolishing the external walls, highlighting the new orthogonal partitions that rhythmically mark the main facade and, at the same time, framing the concrete structural system of beams and pillars.
On the first floor, the project was solved thanks to a new leather made of corrugated aluminum sheet metal anchored to the facade by a galvanized iron box structure.
This metal cladding, while adapting to existing openings, resolves the irregularities of the facade by synthesizing it into a suspended volume that recalls the industrial “container”, symbol of the company's export activity.
The image of a suspended monolith is accentuated by the way the metal cladding folds inward, extending into the ground floor where it becomes the ceiling.
The combination of the emptiness on the ground floor, where the partitions interspersed with large, full-height windows are mostly visible, and the fullness of the volume above that weighs on them, highlights the architectural tension between strength and lightness.
The new metal volume takes on not only an aesthetic value but also resolves technical issues thanks to the gap that is created.
This, in fact, contains downspouts, gutters, retractable sunshades, and part of the heating and electrical system; it also allows for ventilation, helping to improve the building's energy performance.
Since the “container” projects outward from the existing facade, it helps to shield both floors from direct sun exposure, reducing heat gain from solar radiation.
The ground floor is organized with a large central space for welcoming customers, a meeting room, a kitchen and an acceptance office have been placed on the ground floor.
In the central area of the first floor, the most operational part of the offices was located, divided by partitions made of black aluminum and glass that reflect the same modularity as the windows.
All the system components on the first floor, such as the aluminum ventilation channels and the electrical system, have been left exposed, while on the ground floor they are channeled inside the sheet metal false ceiling.
The floor was made of wrought industrial concrete while the walls were completed with a grey plaster.
The work is completed by a specific lighting design project and the choice of technical and decorative lamps that blend well with the designer furnishings, such as the colored aluminum desks and cast iron sofas.
Team:
Designer: Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio
Collaborators: Architect Valentina Occhipinti, Architect Fabrizio Statelli, Architect Giuseppe Iacono
Structural design: Engineer Roberto Cullurà
Technical support: SIC Cappello Engineering Studio
Artistic direction: Giuseppe Gurrieri Studio
Lighting design: Los Project
Construction site assistance: Giombattista Ferla
Photographer: Filippo Poli
Materials Used:
SCHUCO (windows)
METRA (interior partitions)
INDINVEST LT (doors)
GRIESSER (sunblinds)
FLOS (lighting fixtures)
LINEA LIGHT GROUP (lighting fixtures)
UNIFOR (desks, wardrobes)
MAGIS (sofas)
VITRA (chairs)
ZANOTTA (stool)
OTTOPUNTOZERO (bathroom fixtures)
BELLOSTA (faucets)
VIMAR (electrical)
