The office as a playground

International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, in collaboration with the late Italo Rota (1953-2024) and Maestro Technologies, has developed a renovation project for Palazzo Mondadori in Milan, owned by Generali Real Estate. The building is considered one of Oscar Niemeyer's masterpieces, and it hosts the headquarters of the Mondadori Group, the leading Italian book publisher. The design by CRA honors the original design while introducing innovative strategies for the future of the workplace. The first step of the project deals with more than 20,000 square meters, with a wider renovation program of Niemeyer's main European landmark set to follow.

The project puts forward a radical approach to rethinking modern furniture. In collaboration with Maestro Technology, the latest startup born from the group, CRA has refurbished over 1300 units of the building’s original modular furnishings. This classic post-war furniture by Swiss Manufacturer USM has been carefully dismantled and reassembled, integrating wood and creating additional reconfigurable modules. These interventions include incorporating space for plants, seamlessly weaving nature into the office environment.

The space has been reimagined with desks that encourage informal encounters across all five floors of the building. In addition, new transparent meeting rooms have been introduced to create a greater sense of continuity between spaces, allowing people to move while enjoying the surrounding natural environment. The furniture layout has been designed to maximize natural light, accentuating the Palace's beauty and cultivating a deeper harmony with the surrounding park.

Palazzo Mondadori was conceived and constructed between 1968 and 1975, reflecting the peak of Niemeyer's challenging poetic. The main structure boasts a unique design—a suspended glass box supported by parabolic arches, creating the illusion of a space floating in the air, emerging from an artificial lake designed by landscape architect Pietro Porcinai. CRA was tasked with rethinking the office spaces within the building, which were cutting-edge for the 1970s, to bring them to the forefront and imbue them with innovation once again.

The Mondadori Group’s offices represent the latest addition to CRA's continuous research on the future design of workspaces, focusing on adapting spaces to facilitate meaningful interactions between people. This project joins notable examples such as the mixed-use CapitaSpring in Singapore, which won the “Best Tall Building, Asia, 2023” award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and was recognized as one of 2023’s Buildings of the Year by ArchDaily for its vertical urbanism and integration of green spaces. Other pioneering projects in workspace innovation include the Fondazione Agnelli in Turin, the headquarters of the Italian pharmaceutical company Zambon in Milan (developed in partnership with Amdl Circle by Michele De Lucchi), and the design of the ILOW complex for Bouygues at La Défense in Paris.

CREDITS
A project by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota and Maestro Technologies
Creative lead: Italo Rota
CRA Team: Carlo Ratti, Francesco Strocchio, Chiara Leonzio, Marco Santini, Nicolette Marzovilla, Rodolfo Siccardi, Jelena Krco, Gary Di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Gianluca Zimbardi
Italo Rota: Francesca Grassi
Maestro Technologies: Mykola Murashko, Sara Zamperion, Eren Sezer
Photos by DSL Studio: Delfino Sisto Legnani, Melania Delle Grave