Magis HQ

Development of 100,000m² site for headquarters of a leading Italian furniture manufacturer, incorporating 15000m² prefabricated warehouse, offices, showroom, design studios, meeting hall and employees facilities. The development will take place in 2 stages starting with the essential functions, to be followed by recreational landscaping in the second stage.

The device of dealing with the dominance of the enormity of the warehouse is not to accompany it by a single building that is doomed to be dwarfed next to it but rather to create a village-like cluster of small buildings connected to each other locking a central courtyard and linking the giant warehouse via a conical bridge. The small gaps between the buildings create secondary outdoor spaces and an individual access to each of the buildings.

The cluster of the buildings is opaque to the periphery and transparent inwardly to the courtyard. As it is a relatively low-cost project, the buildings are made of a repeating structural L-shaped beam. The sculptural nature of the complex is achieved by varying the angle of the beams in section and their position in the plan. Each of the curved tapering buildings is low on the short side of the taper and rises on the big side of the taper. They meet each other on the overlap the roofs, i.e., the low part of one building penetrates the tall side of the next.