Energy Park West

The Energy Park

The Energy Park is a new technology park located near Milan. It covers a land area of 160,000 sqm, with over 60,000 sqm of office and laboratory buildings designed and engineered to meet the highest sustainability standards and to respond to those companies, operating in High Tech, Telecommunications sectors, which want to implementing certain conditions whitin the working of their employees. The site is completed by a canteen, a nursery a multi-storey carpark and a centre of excellence. The project is a result of an ex-industrial site regeneration, providing a new environment and large green areas for shared use. The layout of the buildings is designed to maximise on a range of aspects. These include the buildable space capacity, the buildings’ orientation in order to attain the most natural light possible, exploitation of available height limits and the desire to create high quality, shared use outdoor spaces with a high level of environmental and functional requirements.

The Garretti Associati team has always promoted the introduction of innovative components that benefit a building’s energy and overall performance. These objectives are pursued by focusing on a number of elements which including the context and a building’s impact on the site, accessibility and transport, the architectural ‘casing’, water management, incentivising the use of renewable energy sources, space flexibility and efficiency, the characteristics of building materials and finishes, the use of and attention to natural resources, the innovative plant and machinery technology available on the market at any given moment, and the quality of the indoor environment.

The result of all this sees all of the new office buildings being LEED Platinum certified (Buildings 03 and 04 as well as the New Campus). Building 03 was in fact the first LEED PLATINUM-certified building in Italy in the Core & Shell category. It also falls within energy class A+ under CENED Certification.

The new Energy Park Campus

The new Campus is a complex of five regural buildings connected by a central access atrium, which is characterised by its sinuous façades and its ample internal dimensions. The production buildings, with a height from 3 to 4 stories above ground, are aligned with the site’s existing buildings and architecturally related to these latter in a balanced way.

The buildings, hall or pavilion type structures, create open courtyards between them turn into private gardens. The Hall, or main entrance atrium, is a very large space. Its perimeter walls are fully glazed rendering the link with the external spaces as fluid as possible.  This relationship with the outdoors is stressed by a large central courtyard, containing a small body of water, which provides a space for contemplation.

Two different types of façade cover the buildings: a “bar code” façade with a strong vertical pattern from the alternation of glass components and white concrete prefabricated panels and a glazed curtain wall façade divided into opaque (using glass with enamelled coating) and transparent sections.

Building 03 and 04

The Building 03 and 04 are implementable, repeatable and of rapid construction and thanks to its technical and morphological characteristics, they can potentially accommodate many functions, either individually or simultaneously.

The buildings are both consisted by two rectangular blocks with an H-shaped footprint, slightly misaligned in order to optimize sun exposure. The blocks are connected together by two glass structures hosting both the reception and the connections. Even at a later stage following completion of the building, greenhouse structures and covered spaces in the courtyard can be added to the basic structure, which consists of prefabricated structures and a ventilated façade. The modular grid, which defines the façades, structures, layout and consequently the plant network, is of 1.5 m in size, a module that opens a very wide range of internal layout possibilities.

The two main buildings have ventilated façades, which are externally clad in a partially perforated corrugated steel sheet with a bright metallic finish. The alternating rhythm of solids and voids marks and highlights the stereometricity and simplicity of the shapes, whilst at the same time optimising natural lighting without sacrificing energy consumption. The glass sections of the two structures have aluminium frames of three and four façade modules in size, in turn framed by a series of very marked, protruding structures designed to provide initial sun shielding together with the horizontal and vertical shadings.

Although the two atrium bodies within each building are entirely glazed, the interior spaces with their imposing wooden pillars also manage to suggest the themes of welcoming and familiarity. The same architectural language characterises their natural extension onto the main façades, forming the two bioclimatic greenhouses. These are simultaneously winter gardens, innovative structures (being conditioned using natural ventilation and with a relative humidity control thanks to the use of natural, indigenous essences) and smart spaces for entertaining or corporate social events.

The spacious triple-height lobbies surprise visitors as they enter. These spaces are home to the reception, staircase and elevators, and constitute a horizontal connection between the two blocks. The ample, glazed façades in clear float glass afford a glimpse into the courtyard. Here, the wood finish, in continuity with the interior, reaches a peak of emotional expression and renders this space, which is reserved for breaks, for relaxing and for socialising. Numerous other characteristics make these buildings unique by incorporating technical features that contribute to the comfort of the internal psycho-physical, perceptual and acoustic environments.

The Nursery School

Another additional resource for the Energy Park is the Nursery School, consisting of 400 sqm of internal space and 600 sqm outdoors. Located next to the canteen building, the Nursery is a cutting-edge facility that follows the principles of ecological design and green building. The 400 sqm which the structure occupies is divided according to age groups and is surrounded by a large garden. Outside there is a bike path, an area for children with anti-shock flooring, space for vegetable gardens and another area equipped for vertical painting. Everything to support creativity. The building structure is made entirely of solid wood or of chopped wood re-assembled into panels, and is therefore fully recyclable. A large wooden pergola covers part of the garden with a shading effect where necessary, placed at the best angle for allowing sun to permeate in the winter without preventing sun from being screened in the summer. A large garden of 400 sqm, irrigated by recycled rainwater, is freely accessible to children for physical activities and, with its small vegetable garden, for activities which bring them closer to nature. All such activities are conducted on the basis of an educational programme implemented by the teachers which pays attention to such issues.

The Multistorey Car Park

Essential given the high number of users (about 3,000) and guests which now access the Energy Park, the multi-storey car park sits discretely in the centre of the development. The parking block was constructed serving the whole of the Energy Park district and consisting of 37,000 sqm, for a total of 1,400 parking spaces.

The multi-storey car park is a decidedly cumbersome structure, resulting from its seven floors in total, three of which are however basement levels. Once again its impact was mitigated by a very green-oriented design choice which resolved the issue of the façades and of their visual interface with the entire surrounding area by dressing the building in a vertical curtain of vegetation.