Main Architecture and Design New Headquarters of the Bank of Pisa and Fornacette: Solution Outside of the Box

New Headquarters of the Bank of Pisa and Fornacette: Solution Outside of the Box

The new Headquarters of the Bank of Pisa and Fornacette in Italy, designed by the architecture firm of Massimo Mariani, recently inaugurated. The building, located in Via Tosco-Romagnola in Fornacette (Italy), represents the final step in a broader urban redevelopment project the bank started in 1995 entrusting the design of its headquarters to the same architect; in 2008 it decided to build a new headquarters with a small square near the first building constructed.

The new building, a parallelepiped covering an area of around 4,500 sq m with 3 floors above ground and a basement, looks like a monolith with its metallic skin that changes depending on the atmospheric conditions. A compact and monolithic volume contains interior structures and spaces with surprising environmental quality. On the upper floors there are offices, and in the basement there is an auditorium with around 300 seats and a gallery for art exhibitions and events.

From the outside the volume appears extremely simplified, dotted with measured openings on three sides and only open to the outside on the main face, in a playful dialect between the desire for simplicity of the forms seen on the outside and the sophisticated experimentation of environmental quality in the interior, accomplished in the design of each detail. The building shows its operational core through the coloured windows that free and break up its monolithic mass, opening it to the light and allowing one’s gaze to pass through.

In its interior the architecture reveals unexpected generosity in terms of air and light, as well as a lively spatial arrangement that highlights the administrative and managerial functions of the bank. Two central courtyards constitute the elements around which open, fluid and diversified working areas are arranged. The courtyards, defined by large surfaces with vertical gardens, provide the interior spaces with light and ventilation.

The entire interior space created by these conditions allows the gaze to pass through it both horizontally and vertically. The main materials are gilded metal for the cladding of the monolith, multicoloured glass for the main façade, which at night transforms into a lantern, and wood and glass for the interior rooms.

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