Laboratorio Farmacologico Milanese Office Spaces

Design firm INS Ilaria Nava Studio recently completed the extensive remodeling of the Laboratorio Farmacologico Milanese (LFM) headquarters in the studio’s home town of Caronno Pertusella, in the northern Italian province of Varese. The challenging project involved reinterpreting the existing building’s reinforced concrete skeleton to make it reflect the company’s core values, and redefining the internal layout. “As all the prefabricated structures had already been cast, laid, and tested, we changed them as little as possible, even though the initial design was a far cry from our own esthetic”, Nava commented. “The original layout based on two stacked rectangles set at different angles to each other created significant wasted space and clearly needed rationalization. Our more minimalist, rigorous approach created a single area at the intersection of the two rectangles that is repeated on each floor, in contrast to the different layout on each level of the original program. The idea was to create two easily readable, connected areas, which, depending on the floor, become open or partitioned workspaces”.

The initial phase of the enquiry, however, involved participation and showing empathy while listening to employees to develop a project with a conceptual compass. “First of all, we implemented a workplace strategy with the client”, Nava continued. “Direct interviews with employees – managers and executive staff – allowed us to fully grasp their functional, dimensional, and personal use requirements and requests like space to put handbags and store large quantities of papers. It was a fundamental process since the company has a low employee turnover and employee loyalty is essential. It led to a more rational, tailored spatial organization: the largest central area is now a workspace, while the triangular elements at the intersection of the two rectangles provide better views of the...

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