Milan, Italy
Kengo Kuma’s new Milan project “Welcome, Feeling at Work,” designed for Europa Risorse, aims to respond to the need for workspaces on a human scale and built according to principles of sustainability.
The COVID pandemic has certainly made the need to work in places where the built space interacts harmoniously with the natural environment more pressing.
Located in Milan’s Lambro Park, Kuma was commissioned to design ‘Welcome, feeling at work’, promoter of an architecture that has always been attentive to the places in which it intervenes, so much so that it deserves the definition ‘contextual’ architecture, and masterful interpreter of wood as a material building of choice.
“Biophilic architecture: living in symbiosis and in contact with nature,” states Yuki Ikeguchi, partner of Kengo Kuma and Associates.
“Welcome, feeling at work is a project that involves the use of organic and natural elements that stimulate our senses and support our tendency to find comfort and inspiration in natural contexts. It is an architectural space completely integrated with vegetation and made with organic materials.”
The program involves the construction of offices, auditoriums, co-working spaces, halls reserved for business meetings, restaurants, shops, wellness areas, places for temporary events and exhibitions.
The places for work and leisure come together in the project and are marked by a ‘green’ matrix that permeates the square, the courtyards intended for informal work and meetings, the terraces, conceived as extensions of the outdoor spaces, the walkways and greenhouses, declined as special places for work but also for entertainment and leisure.
Renewable energy and consumption control, water recovery, use of endemic plant species, enhancement of the human scale; these are some of the elements at the base of the project, which aims to regenerate a context that is currently considered peripheral.
Over 50,000 square meters structured in six stratified bodies, rotated and intertwined with each other that slope like natural amphitheaters towards the Park.
The structure of ‘Welcome’ involves the use of three materials: concrete for the foundations and the basement, steel and wood for the structures above ground.
The energy generation system for heating and cooling together with the installation of photovoltaic panels will allow the maximum sustainability of the intervention to be achieved, creating a project that anticipates the future of post-COVID19 workspaces.
“Natural elements in architecture; green, light, air, timber that appeal to human senses make a difference in the workplace, living culture for better mental, physical states, creativity, and productivity.”
“Sustainably is the future focus and social responsibility for any industries and enterprises.
Welcome offers a model work environment that can promote the forward-thinking firms in sustainability,” added Yuki Ikeguchi.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2024.
Kengo Kuma and Associates “Welcome, Feeling at Work” project
Architects: Kengo Kuma and Associates
Client: Europa Risorse
