Together with Generali Real Estate and Mondadori Group, CRA renews the offices within its Oscar Niemeyer’s Palazzo Mondadori into a dynamic Playground Workspace in Italy. The renovation brief was to provide a much-needed fully reconfigurable working environment by using modern furniture merged with innovative design. It was led by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, collaborating with the late Italo Rota and Maestro Technologies for the Milan-based building—one of Niemeyer’s masterpieces and seat for Mondadori Group, Italy’s biggest book publisher.
© Daniel Shearing
The design retains Niemeyer’s original vision but incorporates progressive workplace strategies. It initially encompassed over 20,000 square meters and marked the first phase of a more extensive renovation program for this iconic European landmark. More than 1,300 units from the building’s original modular furniture by Swiss manufacturer USM were refurbished by CRA, in collaboration with Maestro Technology, to include wood and add modules to be reconfigured to provide spaces for plants, thus allowing nature into the office environment.
“Leaving behind our pajama comfort zone of Zoom calls, the office will have to be more like a playground,” opines Carlo Ratti, founding partner of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati. “Ditch the old cubicle-compartmentalized thinking that gets in the way of innovation and encounters. Exchanges in physical space are essential and exploit an ever-configuring environment greatly.”
© Daniel Shearing
It has provided desks in the renovated area for casual meetings on all five floors, while new transparent meeting rooms give a feeling of continuity and relation with the outdoors. The scheme has been laid out to use natural light, showing the palace in its full glory in complete harmony with the park next to it. One of Niemeyer’s poetic designs is Palazzo Mondadori, whose suspended glass box is supported by parabolic arches, which gives an illusion of floating above an artificial lake designed by Pietro Porcinai. CRA was required to update the office spaces to today’s innovative standards, showing respect for the building’s cutting-edge design of those times in the 1970s.
The Mondadori Group’s offices are the latest in a long chain of studies by CRA about the future workspace: working spaces that encourage meaningful interactions.
© Daniel Shearing
CRA has also been closely linked to Oscar Niemeyer’s heritage. In 2020, the studio created the master plan for the new Biotic district in Brasilia—a dynamic area dedicated to technology and innovation criteria initially foreseen by Niemeyer and Lucio Costa.
Jason Lebidineuse, Scott Brownrigg’s Director and Head of Digital, Culture, Media + Sport said:
“We are delighted to see this incredible project come to life over the last three years. Our design approach and methodology challenged how studios are designed and built, changing the narrative to help create a more sustainable sector and enabling blockbuster productions to film while construction continued onsite.” Rob Gordon, Integrated Delivery Director at Curo Construction said: “Shinfield Studios represents a significant milestone in the UK’s film and television infrastructure. Through our embrace of sustainable design and construction methods, we’ve created state-of-the-art facilities perfectly suited to the needs of modern film production. Each soundstage was purpose-built and handed over in phases, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum efficiency for Shinfield Studios.” Now complete, Shinfield Studios is expected to make a significant contribution to both the local community in Berkshire and the wider UK creative industry.
Project Info:
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Architects: Scott Brownrigg
- Country: United Kingdom
- Area: 1000000 ft²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs: Daniel Shearing
