Orizzonte Europa

The headquarters of BNL Group BNP Paribas is one of the three new branches housing the company's Rome offices.

The architectural design by the Genoa firm 5+1AA is the result of modern, innovative planning, culminating in the creation of the impressive structure as a horizontal skyscraper.The motion of the  reflective glazed façade is mirrored onto the high-speed Rome Tiburtina station. The building stands out due to its iconic appearance, which fits perfectly into the urban setting in the area.

The building has obtained  LEED Gold Core & Shell certification, based on a reduction in expected total consumption of 30%, thanks to the use of technological and design solutions based on low water, electricity and energy consumption.

The project commenced with the coordination of the preliminary competitive tendering phases to gather and review the architectural designs. After categorising and comparing the designs submitted, the customer was provided with the technical design assessment most suited to complying with the budgeted costs and timescales, in order to guarantee the certainty of implementation.
 

Once the winning design was chosen, the work team concluded this phase by supporting the architecture firm 5+1AA.
This ensured that the characteristics proposed in the concept were consistent with the client's objectives.

Given the dimensional impact of the building, budget compliance was one of the most challenging aspects, but thanks to the use of efficient structural and technical solutions it was achievable while maintaining aesthetics and high performance.

One of the most complex aspects was the development of the glazed façade measuring 15,000 square metres and characterised by motion in a sinusoidal pattern and by the cusp-shaped 3D elements. 

A total of 1,200 windows were fitted to the façade
to guarantee the natural ventilation level.

The same effect was reproduced on a smaller scale on the rear façade, featuring as a textured wall covered with 30x60 cm tiles. The tiles used were designed to create the ventilated façade with no joints, giving the wall a dynamic but monolithic appearance of gold-effect and iridiscent colour.
 

The design coordination to implement the rear façade involved engineering individual elements to maintain architectural value, comply with legislation and minimise impact on the total budget.

Orizzonte Europa is like a small town: currently accommodates approximately 3,400 workstations, an auditorium, a training centre, the company restaurant with room for 800 people, and a garage with 400 parking spaces split over four underground levels. Roughly 85% of the total volume is allocated to open-plan office space, with the remaining 15% organised into closed offices.

The interior is the work of the architect Paolo Mantero, featuring renewable, environmentally-friendly materials, and is characterised by a sleek, minimalist vibe that offers a new type of work setting.

When developing the engineering design, the team focused on guaranteeing not only compliance with fire prevention standards and legislation, but also the origin, traceability and composition aspects required for obtaining LEED certification. The building received the Smart Building architecture award in the Offices category and the Best of the Best/Architecture award at the start of 2017, in addition to The Plan Award 2016 for the best property development for office use.