Coherent and sustainable

Rationality, functionality, flexibility and adaptability to changing production requirements are among the pillars of every effective industrial construction project. That project becomes architecture when the quality of the formal content is such as to transform the workspace into a manifesto for the work itself.
The headquarters of Cedacri Group, a leading provider of outsourced services for banks, is situated on an orderly site just outside Collecchio. Designed by Andrea Mambriani, in partnership with Laura Barbieri, the complex takes the form of an L-shaped block overlooking the northern and western perimeters, and a rectangular production block to the south-east.
The new facility communicates with the environment and reflects the latter’s duality. The northern prospects looking towards the man-made cityscape were designed to put a modern slant on a historic tradition of Po valley architecture, consisting of thick walls and a high ratio of full volumes to voids. They were also designed to minimise thermal losses, by adopting a high-performance curtain wall system with a generous layer of insulation and an exterior cladding in large-format porcelain tile (Casalgrande Padana: Architecture from the Granitogres line and Pietre Etrusche from the Pietre Native line.) As Andrea Mambriani, the project’s lead architect, explains: “I was looking for coverings that speak the language of earth, stone and brick in an original manner, and I found Casalgrande Padana to be a perceptive partner, capable of imbuing its products with the benefits of tradition and the quality of technological innovation.”
On the southern front, the administrative building takes on a transparent appearance, and opens up to the natural landscape of the surrounding hills and woodland. The effect is achieved by a double-skinned shell consisting of a facade system made of insulating glass panels and thermal-barrier aluminium frames on the inside, and of copper mesh screening panels on the outside, which cut solar radiation by 37%. The cavity between the facade and the screening panels accommodates a series of gridded walkways for maintenance work, which also serve as horizontal sun breaks. Some 600 square metres of the complex’s roofing, furthermore, is fitted with photovoltaic solar panels.
The production building is also a monument to energy-efficiency and sustainability. All its facades are clad with larch wood, which naturally takes on an elegant, grey sheen over time; and the architects opted for a living roof, so as to combine good levels of insulation and thermal inertia with high environmental quality, while also opening up the possibility of recreational usage. In this respect, the pyramid-shaped skylights sprouting from the roof were designed as sculptural elements that set the tone of the landscape, with their primary-coloured paint finish.