New Alperia Headquarters / Merano

Urban planning concept
From an urban point of view, the new Alperia spa headquarters takes on a dual role, in relation to the different scale of the intervention’s relationships with its surroundings.
On a territorial scale, the building stands as a landmark, an element visible from a great distance that maintains a visual relationship with the area’s natural and anthropic elements (the Adige river, the Bolzano-Merano railway, the MeBo highway).
On an urban scale, the building assumes the role of gateway from Via Scuderie to the vast military area, becoming an ordering element for the future development of the entire area.

Architectural concept
The functional programme is divided into two juxtaposed volumes, one for offices and one for warehouses.
The offices are housed in a building with an elementary form, without privileged fronts and readable in the round. The volume, a thin, elongated parallelepiped 22 metres high, is arranged orthogonally to the main elements on a territorial scale close to the area: the Adige river, the Bolzano-Merano railway, the MeBo.
The orientation and shape of the building allow for an unobstructed view towards the Ifinger mountain from via Scuderie.
A pedestrian square runs along the entire front of the building. The two entrances to Alperia and Edyna open onto it, clearly identified by two cantilevered canopies.
Parallel to the office building, on the inner side of the area, is the warehouse volume.
A network of 120 cm cubic skylights effectively and suggestively illuminates the interior space, lending dignity and beauty to a simple industrial-type space.

Construction
The idea of flexibility, which underlies the plan distribution of the spaces, finds expression in the load-bearing system and the façade structure of the office building.
The structure of the façade emphasises the modularity of the construction system: a square-meshed frame of 360 cm side, realised from prefabricated reinforced concrete elements of 30×30 cm section, wraps the entire building. It is planned to use white concrete with limestone aggregates and a polished surface finish.
The volume of the warehouses, programmatically opposed to that of the offices, is also differentiated by the different treatment of the facades. The perimeter structure consists of reinforced concrete walls made of concrete with black oxide additives and Verde Alpi aggregates; the surface finish is polished.