The premises designed by KAA Karim Azzabi Architects for Piquadro, a company working in the luxury leather goods sector, was inaugurated in December 2006 at Silla di Gaggio Montano, in the Apennine area between Tuscany and Emilia. This plant manages the processes related to research, development and logistics.

The building was conceived as a modular system with an arrangement of identical modules rotated 180° from one another with respect to the longitudinal axis, making it possible to expand and extend the offices and research areas via the simple addition of extra elements.
The offices are conceived as open-planned spaces completely immersed in the landscape in order to optimise the use of space and to create a comfortable working environment. The materials used for the interiors, wood, stone and the transparency of the glazed walls create a sense of continuity with the surrounding nature.

An innovative aspect was the elimination of concrete in favour of the use of prefabricated metalwork assembled on site that allows the structure of the internal offices to be dimensioned and modified according to the company's changing requirements. Particular attention was dedicated to technological systems and IT that enable a high level of integration between all aspects of the working process. The logistics infrastructure, the core of the project, includes a automatic warehouse for intensive picking operations that is highly flexible and able to efficiently manage and send out orders in 24/48 hours.

Azzabi Karim: Piquadro headquarters, Silla di Gaggio Montano (BO)

Architects: KAA Karim Azzabi Architects
Structures: Ing. Giuseppe Monari
Collaborators: Alessandra Monzio Compagnoni
Client: Piquadro S.p.A.
Building contractor: Premetal S.p.A., Rovereto (TN)
Total area: 22.000 sqm
Built surface area: 8000 sqm (6000 sqm of warehouse area and 2000 sqm of office space)
Realisation: 2006