The office complex designed by Gio Ponti, Piero Portaluppi and Antonio Fornaroli was opened in 1962. The customer was then the insurance company RAI, now part of the international giant Allianz. It was the Italian headquarters of Allianz that was located on Corso Italia until recently, but now the company has left the Ponti building and preferred to use it as an "asset".
To do this, it was necessary to transform the complex designed for one company into a flexible system for a variety of tenants. Ponty at one time aspired to create an "office of the future" - and the same goal is set by the SOM bureau, guided by the postulate "conservation is change management" during the reconstruction. For 1962, when the complex opened, the innovation was an underground garage, where there was space for all employees' cars (thus clearing the streets), a landscaped courtyard so that the view from the window would contribute to well-being, a data center with the latest computers.
Today, SOM has focused on public areas, including meeting rooms, lounges and "telephone rooms", as well as vertical circulation atriums where employees can meet and exchange ideas on spiral staircases. The interior will have more natural light, flexible layouts will make it easy to change the space for a particular tenant. None of them will have to set up a conference hall “on their territory”: there will be a common transformable hall for 200 seats, whose audio and video systems are suitable even for concerts and performances.
The renovated courtyard will be complemented by other public spaces. The building facing the street, conceived by Ponti as a residential building, but later turned into offices and changing the facade, will be wrapped in a translucent shell, and the first tier will be given to shops. A large food court with a restaurant, coffee shop and market, as well as a club part, is planned on the site of the garage.
New lobbies of various types, for any tenants' requests, will be connected to public spaces outside, and they themselves will be united by a common palette of materials, details and finishes.
A modernized facade, solar panels, efficient water and electricity meters, the use of gray water, as well as stimulation of physical activity, ergonomics and other components of care for the well-being of employees allow the project to qualify for the "gold" LEED and WELL certificates.
It is planned to complete the renovation of the complex with a total total area of 45,000 m2 in early 2022.
