Faber
Headquarters
GEZA - Gri E ZuccHi
ArcHiTETTi ASSOciATi
PHOTOS: MassiMo Crivellari
Faber Industrie Spa are world leading manufacturers of steel
cylinders.
Their new headquarters are located at a boundary between
an industrial area and farmland, and hence belong to both, the
industrial and the natural landscape. The aim of the project is
to interface both landscapes and acknowledge their different
qualities and values.
Two Volumes
The volume of the building is designed to “bring the two
landscapes inside”, and integrate them in the new spaces. The
building consists of two shifted longitudinal volumes linked by an
entrance hall.
Two Open Courtyards
As a result, two “internal” open spaces are created, and controlled
by views over the building and over the two landscapes. The
designers here worked to obtain a reduced scale, i.e. the human
scale, as opposed to the large-scale industrial area. While one
courtyard is “hard”, lined with trees and conceived as a living area,
the other courtyard is “soft”, entirely green and free, with an open
visual depth eastwards, facing the manufacturing facilities and
the mountains towards the Slovenian border.
The Section and Head Fronts
The notion of “double” is mirrored in the section, that is two “S”
shapes. The corridor/office plan is inverted on the two levels: one
totally blind side and one totally open side are overlapped, giving
way to radically shifting open/closed fronts. The eastern head
fronts of the office bodies actually highlight the S-section, while
the western head fronts, where fire-exit stairs are accommodated
inside wall panels, are closed and silent.