RAI OFFICE RENOVATION: FLEXIBLE AND MODERN SPACES, GREEN, AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES

ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and engineering-architecture-ICT firm DBA PRO. signed the contract for the renovation of the Rome headquarters of Italian public broadcaster Rai. Their winning architectural design competition entry will create a highly innovative building with new spaces, more comfort for people, cutting-edge technological solutions, and a design based on the principles of sustainability and biophilia.

Covering a total area of approx. 30,000 sqm, the redevelopment project is conceived to increase personal well-being through modern and flexible spaces that respond to ever-changing work needs. The building will provide more spaces dedicated to personal services with a redeveloped dining area and a new outdoor garden on Via Podgora that will create new green spaces, in addition to the ones in the building’s internal courtyard. A new spatial distribution will streamline information flows by encouraging contacts among different work areas. Acoustic, lighting and thermal comfort will be guaranteed by innovative architectural and engineering solutions – in line with the highest sustainability and well-being standards of the LEED and WELL certifications.

“The project redevelops all the facades,” architect Antonio Citterio, Chairman of ACPV ARCHITECTS, says, “in order to guarantee the building’s energy efficiency and sustainability, while maintaining its original compositional language by enhancing the existing architectural structures that date back to the 1960’s. We will also reinterpret the roof that will integrate new technological and building systems requirements.”

The project emphasizes the presence of greenery in the workspaces, and offers a new outdoor area for workers on Via Podgora, while transforming the inner courtyard into a Zen Garden. The new courtyard will be surrounded by a renovated art gallery that displays Renaissance tapestries and sculptures – the finest examples of Rai’s artistic and architectural heritage.

“This project calls for a new vision for a building from the 1960’s that will reimagine the building according to modern functional principles, in line with new professional needs,” architect Patricia Viel, CEO of ACPV ARCHITECTS, says. “Rai is thus giving life to an important urban regeneration project that enhances a historic building that characterizes the identity of the entire district.”

“Applying multidisciplinary skills and, in particular, those gained in the ICT field, DBA PRO. will, for this project, integrate classic engineering and project management services with new digital technologies for the automation of the processes for the construction, management and maintenance of works and infrastructures” Raffaele De Bettin, CEO of DBA PRO., says.

The design is developed with the use of a digital model in BIM (Building Information Modeling) in order to adapt the qualitative and control level of the project delivery over the building’s entire design development chain, and to make all useful information available for the sustainable and efficient management of the construction site and for the entire life-cycle of the building.

“Design and innovation, sustainability and efficiency, modern technologies and digitization are essential characteristics for the redevelopment of Italy’s real estate and historical assets,” Raffaele De Bettin, CEO of DBA PRO., concludes. The offices will be renovated by applying innovative principles of bioclimatic, sustainable and biophilic design. These features, together with the application of advanced technological and IT solutions, guarantee high quality standards for RAI employees, and maximum efficiency and optimization for the management and the maintenance phases of the building.

The project is the latest example in ACPV ARCHITECTS’ long line of experience in urban regeneration projects, and in the design of office buildings. The latest ongoing and completed works include NOVE, an office building in Munich (Germany); the Milan headquarters of Italian telecommunications company Fastweb and the entire Symbiosis Business District in Milan (Italy); the renovation of the Rome headquarters of Italian energy company Enel (Italy); and Intesa Sanpaolo’s new offices at MilanoSesto (Sesto San Giovanni, Italy).

DBA PRO. continues in its decade-long path dedicated to the redevelopment of real estate assets, and puts in place highly specialized work teams in the management of complex projects..