The new Fastweb Headquarters building, occupied by the eponymous Italian telecommunications company, sees the transfer of the company’s operations to its new location in south Milan. Situated next to Fondazione Prada, with the Adriano Olivetti square in between the two buildings, the 6-storey office complex represents the first completed development of the large-scale Symbiosis business district masterplan conceived by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel for Covivio.

Settling in the business district with its peculiar identity and establishing a unique set of relations with its context and the surrounding cityscape, the office building stretches along an east-west orientation with an L-shaped plan, and an area of 21,500sqm. The main façade of the Fastweb Headquarters, facing north, is completely covered in reflective glass to maximize the building’s exposure to the surroundings, and to provide uninterrupted views of the urban context.

Conceived with ‘sustainable livability’ in mind, the headquarters project reinforces the ties between work and city, and the relationship between the role of a big company and the energies that its community can infuse in the environment. As a semi-public space, the ground floor of the office building is designed and equipped to offer unique modalities of use, such as the veranda below the building volume supported by the X-shaped reinforced concrete support structure. With a focus on environmental sustainability, the headquarters building has obtained a LEED Platinum certificate for its reduced CO2 emission levels and environmentally-friendly design.

Beyond its architectural details, the nature of the office building and the urban project is expressed in the fluid, continuous and strongly integrated elements of the buildings and the public spaces. Named after the renowned Italian industrialist and engineer, the Adriano Olivetti square in front of the headquarters building – in collaboration with Carlo Masera – alternates environmental conditions from forest-like elements and gardens to water surfaces. The square’s natural elements and green areas further contribute to the office building’s sustainable features within the development’s public realm.

The spatial planning of the new office building provides an organization and an infrastructure for the increasingly collaborative, mobile and flexible ways of working, tailoring spaces to the well-being and the multiplicity of needs of employees. In addition to the break areas and the more informal communal spaces within the building, the presence of the public spaces around the office complex creates new opportunities for social interaction and exchange. Re-emphasized and reflected by the glass façade of the Fastweb headquarters, these new areas for the community articulate a defining character for the development, leaving a mark in the entire area of the Symbiosis masterplan.

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