The progression from the manufacture of tangible goods to the creation of intangible resources, the computerisation of processes and the arrival of new environments and professional skills have radically changed the job market and the way its physical space is designed. This book tells the whole story through the emblematic example of Sempla, a company operating in the IT sector with its new headquarters in Turin.
The offices are created inside the Corso Regio Parco Complex which is the former CEAT building (acronym for Electric Cables and Allied Products Turin), one of the manufacturing hubs of Turin in the 50’s and 60’s. Abandoned for several years, the architectural project carried out by DAP studio breathes new life into the space, merging the needs of the company with the industrial past of the location. Open space environments punctuated and separated by total white blocks of colour, low fitted walls, functional and flexible furniture create a micro urban setting, with pathways, junctions, closed and open areas where to meet and exchange ideas, interpreting the strengths of the Sempla working model and at the same time respecting the traces of the historic memory of the ex-factory.
Through the iconographic narrative of before and after, the photographs of the spaces lived in, the architectural designs and especially the dialogue between the client and the designer, the book illustrates the genesis, the development and the results of this transformation process from an abandoned industrial space to the nerve centre of productivity of ideas and intelligence, a metaphor for the changes taking place in the city and in the work places, and not solely in Turin.
Luca Molinari, Angelica Di Virgilio (edited by), Sempla Headquarters Torino, 2012
Publishing coordination
viapiranesi
Photographs
Barbara Corsico, Dario Dinocca
Design and layout
Med-Use
Printing and binding
Litogì ltd, Milan
Translation
Jeffrey Jennings for Language Consulting Congressi,
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