Angelini Headquarters Addition

This new addition to the Angelini Pharma headquarters in Rome, designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, includes two new buildings housing an auditorium, restaurant, offices, and a glass tunnel connection to the adjacent existing building. The buildings are organized around a central round piazza, and their unique stepping geometry is defined by a rhythm of repeating offsets from the piazza, which generates the language of structural curved timber beams at the interior and repeating precast concrete fins at the exterior.

At the green roof, the repeating precast concrete fins define the edges of the stepped and curving roof geometry, which descends to encircle the piazza at ground level. Curved metal cladding extends from each roof level to the next and drainage from each green roof level is integrated within the opaque zone of the vertical facades. Fixed glass skylights and opaque glazed smoke out hatches are integrated intermittently within the green roof as required.

At the perimeter facades, the precast concrete fins act as solar shading devices, with glazed and opaque curtain wall systems to the interior. The fins are supported by vertical steel plates, with intermittent brackets through the curtain wall to the primary structural columns. The curtain wall is a custom aluminum framed stick system, specially designed for interior glass replacement and to integrate the through-system brackets with robust weather seals, even in inclined conditions. In addition to fixed vision glazing, glazed shadowbox spandrel zones, insulated metal panels, and fine-grained aluminum architectural louvers are integrated where required.

To ensure the facades can be safely maintained, safety lifelines are integrated below the shadow line along each concrete fin at the roof and brackets for demountable davits are integrated at the roof perimeter, where they are recessed within the gutter.

The glass tunnel connection features large format 3.2m wide curved glass to maximize transparency. The aluminum mullions and kept shallow, by coordinating the mullion and primary structural column placement, such that the mullions are offset from the structural columns but tie back intermittently.

BUROMILAN FAÇADE collaborated with Mario Cucinella Architects to develop the façade systems during Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Documents. This work also included the façade access and maintenance strategy as well as a market test pricing study to validate and better inform internal cost estimates of the façade scope. The project is currently ongoing.