WHIRLPOOL HEADQUARTER

The multinational American company Whirlpool has taken up residence in the Perseo building on the doorstep of Milan's business district, and identified the location as its European operations and management centre.

Work was carried out to adapt the interior of the building and enable the transfer of all offices to the new headquarters. The existing partition walls, floors and ceilings were stripped out and the layout redesigned for offices in accordance with the group's brand identity, improving the quality of the environment thanks to the use of high-performance materials.

The first building has an atrium on the ground floor reaching the roof, a staircase and central lifts, and two separate open-plan lounge areas to accommodate customers visiting the complex. On the fifth floor of this building, an area of 640 m² has been turned into an open-plan exhibition area for displaying company products, whereas the fifth floor of the twin building contains management offices, the executive boardroom and private meeting rooms.

An auditorium has been created on the ground floor of the second building, which can be divided into two rooms thanks to a folding partition wall with significant soundproofing characteristics. Various meeting rooms, mainly for Whirlpool customers, have been set up on the same floor.

The remaining floors in both buildings have been set up as meeting rooms arranged around a central core of toilet facilities, lifts and stairs. The rest of the space has a large open-plan office area, and each floor has a small kitchen area equipped for preparing snacks.

In addition to the aesthetic and functional adaptation of the interior, the design also aimed to upgrade building energy efficiency through structural and plant engineering activities. The ceiling air conditioning system was upgraded with the insertion of more modern filtration elements, and light fittings replaced and supplemented with entirely LED units along the inside surface.

Special focus was placed on noise abatement in work areas by selecting interior materials with considerable soundproofing characteristics. The selection of high-performance materials enabled the improvement of conditions inside significantly. To achieve the required standards acoustic separators were inserted in ceilings and under the suspended flooring.