Exhibition and Office Spaces Shaped by Light

By Editorial Staff - 3 November 2025
Zumtobel Group has participated in the project

Transforming a neutral, minimalist shell into a space that functions as office, showroom and exhibition gallery – that was the goal of De Amicis Architetti’s project for Zumtobel’s new corporate headquarters. Designed in tune with the brand’s identity and its long-standing dialogue with the art world, the project shows how light itself can become the perceptual and emotional core of architecture.

“The new office is not simply a workplace”, explains Matteo Cundari, Managing Director of Zumtobel Italia. “It is a human-scale space designed for comfort and quality while also serving as a living showcase for our lighting solutions. It is a place where clients can experience firsthand how light enhances well-being, creativity and productivity, transforming space into an experience”.

In line with Zumtobel’s design philosophy, the project is both materially and conceptually built around light. Its layout balances two functions – display and work – as the architects embraced the challenge of showcasing Zumtobel’s products while creating a space that conveys a precise vision of contemporary work culture.

For Zumtobel, light is not merely functional but also emotional, communicative and material. De Amicis Architetti translated this idea into practice through a series of coherent, distinctive design choices. At the heart of the design is a pleated glass wall – the true sculptural centerpiece that modulates natural and artificial light, capturing, refracting and diffusing it through the interior. Its folds, paired with mirrored inserts, expand perspectives and create dynamic reflections, turning the surface into a tactile, light-catching filter producing a shimmering texture that gives the surrounding space a subtle sense of motion.

Showoffice Zumtobel © Alberto Strada, courtesy De Amicis Architetti

Within the open space framed by the pleated glass wall, workstations line a generous table lit by spotlights and ceiling-mounted track fixtures. The setting, inspired by a winter garden, opens onto lush greenery through expansive glazing, where daylight filters softly through the Venetian blinds.

The design grows out of a reflection on the evolving nature of contemporary workplaces, increasingly defined by flexibility, adaptability and familiarity. The pleated wall, providing privacy and sound insulation while maintaining visual continuity, becomes the symbolic core of this concept.

Art plays a defining role throughout, turning the offices into exhibition spaces that expand the boundaries of work and make them more fluid and open. From the foyer to the meeting rooms, from the lunch area to the circular multifunctional room, every space displays works by contemporary artists whose conceptual research explores the materiality of light. These pieces explore the relationship between light, culture and experimentation, underscoring the company’s deep and enduring connection with the art world – a dialogue that has long involved designers and artists, such as Anish Kapoor, whose Brighten the Corners (2012) is displayed in the open space.

In doing so, the project goes beyond the functional organization of space, transforming architecture into a narrative medium that communicates innovation, experimentation and the identity and culture of the company itself.