Right from the start, Teseo – headquartered in Fermo, central Italy – knew it wanted an iconic showroom of glass and steel. The project developed with Promo S.p.A. involved the design and manufacture of numerous metal frame components. The architecture Journal The Plan has reviewed the project at length (read more).
Although an apparently regular shaped parallelepiped, the building nonetheless presented a series of structural problems and asymmetries. Over and above the technical issues of asymmetry, the brief also demanded large open span interiors in order to showcase the Company’s products and ensure natural lighting throughout.
Structural solutions had to be found for the façade and roof that would guarantee excellent anti-seismic performance. In particular, the stiffness of the vertical elements was differentiated and the center of the masses approximated to the center of rigidity, thereby preventing torsion caused by quakes. For the roof, sandwich panels comprising a polyurethane layer between two sheet steel panels afford a lightweight covering with excellent thermal performance. Since the new building stands adjacent to a pre-existing construction, a special technical joint was used to connect the two while allowing the new structure to behave autonomously in the event of an earthquake.
In order to keep within a low budget but also to solve the technical and design issues, Promo S.p.A. selected industrialized systems that together produced a customized project. These include a metal frame, which although an essential structural feature, is also a fine example of handsome architectural design. The Metra aluminum system was chosen for the façades. The mechanically fastened colored glass panes guarantee both the luminosity and privacy. Another striking design feature is the automatic sliding door set into the oblique slice made in one of the corners of the pavilion. Construction costs were further reduced by using dry assembly systems that guarantee excellent mechanical, thermal, and acoustic performance as well as efficient installation of lighting.
