AMDL CIRCLE has designed Z-LIFE, the new headquarters for pharmaceutical corporation Zambon. Z-LIFE is set inside the OpenZone campus in Bresso, on the outskirts of Milan, Italy.
The project re-thinks a contemporary workplace through the reprogrammability of the spaces, fostering the exchange of ideas through architecture. This approach is inspired by Earth Stations, AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi’s research project.
In Z-LIFE, office activities have been integrated into an existing structure of a former factory specialised in metal profiles. The new architectural object sits in harmony with the previous structure, to preserve and to celebrate the memory of the industrial context. A glass enclosed volume has been inserted within the previous reinforced concrete structure, with a steel architectural frame. The glass highlights the concrete parts that reveals the building’s history: the juxtaposition of different materials makes Z-LIFE unique in its surroundings, and recognisable from afar. The wide open space is developed on two levels, visually connected from several voids that let the viewer perceive all the internal activities. The perimetral glass walls allows for natural light to spread, a metaphor of knowledge sharing, in a continuous exchange between the inside and the outside.
At the centre of the courtyard, Open Lamp, a circular hall dedicated to the company’s events. The dome that covers Open Lamp is connected to the office spaces by four gangways. The glass avant-corps has a load-bearing metal structure and is characterised by the use of larch wood on the ceiling and on the claddings. Z-LIFE’s roof, visible from the adjacent buildings, has been conceived as a ‘fifth façade’ and features a roof garden.
