CULTURE
Photo by DSL Studio
イタリアのミラノ郊外に位置する〈The Office as a Playground〉は、1975年に建てられたオスカー・ニーマイヤー設計の〈パラッツォ・モンダドーリ（Palazzo Mondadori）〉を改修したオフィスです。
トリノとニューヨークを拠点とする カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイト（Carlo Ratti Associati）が、イタリアを代表するデザイナーの1人イタロ・ロタ（Italo Rota）とMaestro Technologiesと共同で設計しました。
注目ポイント
- 物理的な交流を促すコンセプト「遊び場ワークスペース」
- USMハラー製家具1300ユニットを改修し再構成可能なモジュールへ転換
- 木材や非USM部材を組み合わせた新しい家具アプローチ
- カジュアルな交流を促すデスク配置と透明な会議室による空間の連続性
（以下、カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトから提供されたプレスキットのテキストの抄訳）
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトは、ジェネラリ・リアルエステート（Generali Real Estate）とモンダドーリ・グループ（Mondadori Group）と共同で、オスカー・ニーマイヤーが設計した〈パラッツォ・モンダドーリ〉内のオフィスを「遊び場ワークスペース」へと改修した。
本プロジェクトは、モダン家具の根本的な刷新を通じて、完全に再構成可能な作業環境の創出を目指している。
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
改修の背景と意図
カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトは、故イタロ・ロタおよびMaestro Technologiesと協働し、ジェネラリ・リアルエステートが所有する建物を改修した。〈パラッツォ・モンダドーリ〉はニーマイヤーの傑作の1つとされており、イタリアの出版大手モンダドーリ・グループの本社を擁する。
モンダドーリは商業出版や教育市場を牽引するとともに、デジタル・ソーシャルメディア、雑誌、小売の分野でも重要な存在である。カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトのデザインは原設計を尊重しつつ、未来の職場に向けた革新的戦略を導入している。第1段階では20,000m²以上を対象とし、続いて本館全体を視野に入れた大規模改修が計画されている。
Photo by DSL Studio
ニーマイヤー建築の文脈
〈パラッツォ・モンダドーリ〉は1968年から1975年にかけて建設され、ニーマイヤーの詩的創造力の頂点を示す建築である。放物線状のアーチに支えられたガラスの箱は浮遊するように見え、ランドスケープ・アーキテクトであるピエトロ・ポルチナイ（Pietro Porcinai）が設計した人工湖の上に浮かび上がる姿を見せる。
カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトは1970年代当時の最先端だったオフィス空間を再解釈し、再び革新性を吹き込む役割を担った。
Photo by DSL Studio
家具の刷新と緑の導入
本プロジェクトでは、モダン家具を再考する画期的なアプローチが採用された。最新スタートアップ「Maestro Technology」との協業により、建物に設置されていたUSMハラー製のモジュール家具1300ユニット以上を改修した。
これらは慎重に分解された後、USMハラー製ではない部材や木材と組み合わせ、再構成可能な追加モジュールを組み込み再構築された。さらに、植物のためのスペースを統合することで、自然をオフィス環境にシームレスに組み込む工夫が施されている。
Photo by DSL Studio
遊び場としてのオフィス像
カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイト創設パートナーであるカルロ・ラッティは語る。
「パジャマ姿でのZoom会議という安楽から脱却するには、オフィスは遊び場のような場所になる必要がある。フランスの映画監督ジャック・タティの『プレイタイム』が示すように、旧来のキュービクルは革新や出会いを阻害する。物理的空間での交流は極めて重要であり、それは再構成可能な環境によって促進されるのである。」
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
空間構成の工夫
建物の5フロアすべてが再構想され、カジュアルな出会いを促すデスクが設置された。また、新たに導入された透明な会議室は空間の連続性を高め、自然環境を楽しみながら移動できるよう配慮されている。家具の配置は自然光を最大限に取り込み、建物の美を際立たせつつ、周囲の公園との調和を深めている。
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
Photo by DSL Studio
以下、カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイトのリリース（英文）です。
THE OFFICE AS A PLAYGROUND
CRA, in collaboration with Generali Real Estate and publisher Mondadori Group, transforms the offices within Oscar Niemeyer’s Palazzo Mondadori in Italy into a Playground Workspace. The project proposes a radical renovation of modern furniture, aiming to create a fully reconfigurable work environment.
26 June 2024, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MORE INFO AND HI-RES IMAGES are available on request via pr@carloratti.com
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 in the trade and school textbook markets, a key player in digital and social media, and a significant presence in magazines and retail. 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 Haller has been carefully dismantled and reassembled with non-USM Haller components, integrating wood and creating additional reconfigurable modules. These interventions include incorporating space for plants, seamlessly weaving nature into the office environment.
“In order to get us out of the comfort of our pajama Zoom calls, office spaces need to become more like playgrounds,” says Carlo Ratti, founding partner of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and curator of the Biennale Architettura 2025. “Forget the old cubicles, which obstruct innovation and encounters, as shown in French director Jacques Tati’s ‘Playtime’ movie. Exchanges in physical space are crucial, and benefit from a constantly reconfigurable 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.
CRA has a close connection to Oscar Niemeyer’s important legacy. In 2020, the studio worked on the master plan of Brasilia in the Biotic project. This new district, spanning 1 million square meters, is devoted to technology and innovation, in continuity with the original Plano Piloto designed by Niemeyer and Lucio Costa.
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, Ginevra NazzarriPhotos by DSL Studio: Delfino Sisto Legnani, Melania Delle Grave
More information is available upon request: pr@carloratti.com
ABOUT CRA-CARLO RATTI ASSOCIATI
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati is an international design and innovation practice based in Turin, Italy, and New York City. Drawing on Carlo Ratti’s research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the office is currently involved in many projects across the globe, embracing every scale of intervention – from furniture to urban planning. Among recent projects are the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020, the biophilic skyscraper CapitaSpring in Singapore, the urban curatorship of Manifesta 14 Prishtina biennial, the redesign of the Agnelli Foundation HQ in Turin, and the master plan for Milan Innovation District (MIND). CRA is the only design firm whose works have been featured three times in TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year” list – respectively with the Digital Water Pavilion, the Copenhagen Wheel, and Scribit. In the last years, the office has been involved in the launch of Makr Shakr, a startup producing the world’s first robotic bar system, and Maestro Technologies, a company dedicated to advancing the use of digital innovations in the construction industry. In December 2023, Carlo Ratti was appointed Curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2025).
www.carloratti.comABOUT ITALO ROTA
Italo Rota (1953-2024) was one of the most important Italian designers of recent decades. In the 1980s he designed the renovation of the Musée d’Orsay, with Gae Aulenti, the rooms of the French School in the Cour Carré of the Louvre, the lighting of the Notre Dame cathedral and along the Seine and the renovation of the center of Nantes in Paris. In the 1990s he returned to Milan and with the new studio he created projects and architecture becoming one of the references of a new architecture. Symbolic are the Museo del Novecento in Piazza Duomo in Milan, the headquarters of Columbia University in New York, the Hindu Temple in Dolvy in India, the Media Library in Perugia. Over the years, Italo Rota has developed unrivaled expertise in the field of museography and exhibitions, creating countless iconic exhibitions and installations. With CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, he created the Italian Pavilion in Dubai for the EXPO Dubai 2020, the creative direction of the MEET Digital Culture Center projects in Milan, Casa Mutti in Parma, MAE Museum in Fiorenzuola d’Arda, AGO Museums Modena.
カルロ・ラッティ・アソシエイト 公式サイト
https://carlorattiassociati.com/project/the-office-as-a-playground/
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