Frigerio Design Group, after winning a competition to design a new technical center for Ferrero in Alba, Italy, has recently unveiled more details for the project.
The proposal for the Italian multinational food company's new facility was selected for the human values of its design proposal, which features an industrial structure integrated into the landscape. The project was inspired by the scenery, nature, and colors of the Langhe, the hilly area located in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.
The Ferrero Technical Center stems from the need to combine the company’s engineering operations, in particular those devoted to designing new production lines, with the workshop where they are developed. These functions are not currently located within the factory.
The center will be a 136,700-sf ecological building that is nZEB (nearly Zero Energy Building) and will house 200 employees. It will be able to support management and operational functions for automated and interconnected production.
Simple and linear architecture conceals plants and technical equipment while maximizing all of the passive space and minimizing the resources needed for operations and maintenance. Technology is ubiquitous throughout the new center without ever becoming obtrusive. It is seamlessly integrated in a recognizable and reassuring architecture.
Transparency and opacity define the architecture of the building. The offices located on the top floor have transparent facades while the lower floors containing the workshop and plants are hidden from view. The great hall is entirely glazed and covers one end from ground to roof with a grand staircase that connects the building’s three floors.
The workshop is designed with a minimal and essential floorpan where white is the primary color. Openings in the facade capture natural light while preventing direct sunlight. The curtain walls in this area will have micro-perforated and sound-absorbing panels to improve the quality of internal acoustics and minimize any sound pollution.
Six green areas, dubbed the flying gardens by the architect, will perform a bioclimatic, acoustic, and aesthetic function on the top floor near the offices. Additionally, a photovoltaic system on the roof generates a peak of 300 kW.
The project broke ground in 2020 and is slated for completion in December 2021.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
NASA plans federal government's greenest building
NASA is set to break ground on what the agency expects to be the highest-performing building in the federal government's portfolio. Named Sustainability Base, the building at Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., will be a showplace for sustainable technologies, featuring some of the agency's most advanced recycling and intelligent controls technologies originally developed to support NASA...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
Robotic storage facility protects exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork
Miller Construction Company, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has completed construction on a high-tech robotic storage facility designed to store and protect valued possessions such as exotic automobiles, fine wines, artwork, and jewelry. Designed and built to resist Category 5 hurricanes, the RoboVault facility features automated storage retrieval, biometric recognition, private access with 24/7 securi...
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.
| Aug 11, 2010
Special Recognition: Triple Bridge Gateway, Port Authority Bus Terminal New York, N.Y.
Judges saw the Triple Bridge Gateway in Midtown Manhattan as more art installation than building project, but they were impressed at how the illuminated ramps and bridges—14 years in the making—turned an ugly intersection into something beautiful. The three bridges span 9th Avenue at the juncture where vehicles emerge from the Lincoln Tunnel heading to the Port Authority of New Yor...
| Aug 11, 2010
American Tobacco Project: Turning over a new leaf
As part of a major revitalization of downtown Durham, N.C., locally based Capitol Broadcasting Company decided to transform the American Tobacco Company's derelict 16-acre industrial plant, which symbolized the city for more than a century, into a lively and attractive mixed-use development. Although tearing down and rebuilding the property would have made more economic sense, the greater goal ...
