The idea underpinning the Lamborghini Centro Milano project was the response to a very precise need on the part of the client: “I want something in the façade that looks great, that catalyzes attention and that’s unique”. Starting out from this need, Dante O. Benini & Partners gave the whole building a new aesthetic and functional impact, a task by no means simple given they had to work on an old industrial shed. The project was thus complex from the outset and required massive attention to detail and optimized use of materials, a hallmark of this particular Milan firm of architects. The idea for the shell stems from a detail of what the shell was destined to contain. The façade, in fact, features a decorative motif based on the design of one of the front air intakes on the Lamborghini Gallardo. The interiors, fitted out to the client’s guidelines, exploit the double height of the mezzanine floor to offer a stage for the main actors: the cars. Two large vertical surfaces carve out the various service, connection, hospitality and business areas. The flooring of this showroom is made entirely of anti-slip glass. The material is called Madras® Flooring and it’s produced by Vitrealspecchi, an Italian company with formidable experience in the field of satin finishing and etching of flat glass. The product is certified to the main international anti-slip standards and comes in a range of textures with varying patterns for use in large or confined spaces, all showing exquisite combinations of engraving and relief and roughness and transparency providing safe grip whether dry or wet. Madras® Flooring can be strengthened and laminated, indispensable requisites for glass to be used as a walking surface. In detail, the flooring of the mezzanine at the Lamborghini Centro is made of the collection’s cutting edge product, Madras® Pixel Flooring, used here in both of the available finishes, satin and transparent. This combination was the solution to one of the design problems, that of displaying the cars on the mezzanine floor in such a way as to enable their marvellous engineering to be admired from an unusual viewpoint – from underneath. And this wasn’t all. The choice of glass flooring was also dictated by the desire to exploit to the utmost the natural light provided by the wide glass façade, thus saving on the energy costs of interior lighting systems. In this context it should also be noted that the whole of the Lamborghini Centro uses recyclable materials such as glass and products manufactured by LEED-approved processes, such as in the flooring. Madras® Flooring’s anti-slip products thus integrate perfectly in projects, like this one, at the forefront of environmentally sustainable design. The Lamborghini Centro is an urban location that has become a landmark recognizable from afar and by everyone, a symbol as unique perhaps as the Lamborghinis themselves.
Madras® Flooring: technical characteristics
• Base material: float glass to UNI EN 572-1,2: 2004. • Anti-slip properties certified to the main international standards. • Standard plate size: 2250 x 3210 mm • Thicknesses: 8/10 mm • Colours: clear, extra-clear • Weight: 2.5 kg/m2 per millimetre of thickness • All mechanical and heat processes are supported.
Design profile
Design: Dante O. Benini & Partners Architects, Milan
Principle Architect: Luca Gonzo (Senior Partner and Managing Director)
Construction of glass surfaces: Rober Glass Srl Calci (PI)
Duration of work: October 2009 / June 2010
