PLACE
Parma

STATUS
Achieved

CHRONOLOGY
2022 - 2024

CATEGORY
Places of work

Biotech Center of Excellence, represents Chiesi Farmaceutici's new hub for research, development and production of biological drugs in Parma, and built at the existing manufacturing compound within the historic San Leonardo district.
The new Hub constitutes a strategic asset aimed at biotechnological innovation, with a focus on the development of monoclonal antibodies, enzymes and other complex proteins, completing the development and urban regeneration plan for the district. In recent years, Chiesi Farmaceutici has, in fact, initiated a policy of upgrading the existing sites through a targeted and surgical process of urban regeneration pursued also by means of the demolition and building replacement of the production and management apparatus, when obsolete.
Therefore, the building was constructed on the site of a pre-existing building, which was demolished to make way for the new facility dedicated to the production of sterile and freeze-dried liquids.
The new intervention concerns a ground footprint of about 1,400 square meters and consists of five above-ground floors, including a technical mezzanine and a penthouse; the work is connected, on the ground floor, to the articulated system of existing buildings.
The intervention is configured as a building intended for production, with vertical development and from the blind fronts, characterized by a single-volume mass developed, in compact form, in height
The volumetric impact and stereometry of the building suggested to articulate the building envelope in thematic bands, corresponding to the functional organization of the interior spaces (technical rooms, production, penthouse).
The identified cladding consists of Stacbond panels Titanium finish rhythmic by means of vertical fins in overhang and expanded metal sheet bands.

The alternation between solid, coplanar surfaces and perforated surfaces is related to the need to ensure the proper aeration ratios instrumental to internal fire safety in production environments. 

This choice gives the main front facing east a constant iridescence of surfaces, which vary in hue and reflection mode depending on the weather and ambient light conditions.
On the same front, a vertical, full-height glazed cut makes the interior production spaces visible, creating a virtual dialogue between the city and the production compartment.

The main front is, in this way, articulated in alternating vertical bands capable of returning different colors at different times of the day. The crowning of the penthouse is characterized by the presence of a corrugated metal sheet with microperforated horizontal slats that give a greater and more incisive degree of lightness to the envelope at its end.

The south elevation identifies the most technical front: here are, in fact, organized slatted partitions that allow the proper operation of mechanical systems, as well as a system of removable doors and panels for the maintenance and handling of internal systems.

A staircase, made of a metal structure, is inserted on the north front, which is open to ensure safe exodus from workplaces.

The design process was managed according to the LEED protocol in order to obtain GOLD certification.

A place of innovation intended for the production of organic products suitable for ensuring and protecting human health, wrapped in architecture that intends, with such assumptions, to transfer to the city the values of research, progress, and the future.