Italian architects [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] have completed the company headquarters for software company Cabel Industry in Empoli, near Florence, Italy.

The building has two storeys above ground, with exhibition spaces in the basement.

The area around the building has been excavated to admit light to the lower level.

Three bridges span the gap, which contains a public lawn.

The structure is made of pre-cast, concrete components with aluminium cladding on the roof and ends.

Photographs by Alessandro Ciampi.

Here’s some more information from Massimo Mariani:
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CABEL INDUSTRY
Just out the edge of the town of Empoli, the building is the Cabel
headquarter (a company producing software systems for banks), it
measures 4.500 square meters and it is sited inside the local
industrial area.

Partially set into the ground, the building is composed of two
extended floors out the ground level and a vault under. Along the main
front the facade is protected by a long slice of public green.

The visitor arrives on the ground level through three suspended
bridges launched on a large excavation which lights the vault designed
to house expositions and art installations. Night time this empty space
becomes a lighting pool which raises architecture from the ground.

The underground floor hold a printing house and open spaces designed
for various initiatives; the ground floor interiors are conceptualized
as many kind of glass spaces in a modern interaction of liquid working
areas like acquarium. On the upper floor there are directional bureaus
and representative offices with a patio and terrace. The elevators and
distributional stairs take up the middle section of the structural
grid, made of stone tiles with steel elevators.

Everything comes out from a single sign: architectural global shape,
fastenings, entrance cuts, furniture handles and decorations. During
the day coloured glass create liquid chromatic effects inside black and
white offices, instead of night time when coloured cuts project out
vivid lighting effects underlining holes, cuts and shapes of the
building.

The building is made of precast concrete elements with aluminium cladding on the roof and rounded facades.

Roof cladding hide photovoltaic systems producing 150Kw, so the building is energetically self-sufficient.












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Posted by Rose Etherington from dezeen.com