The Piranesi Experience is producing an unpublished cinematographic story of the new headquarters for the BNL Paribas in Rome. After the first scenes, which seem to amplify the majesty of the architectonic mass, we slowly enter the belly of the building, which due to its form, brings to mind the spotted whale. Rossana Vinci, architect and journalist
The camera then turns outwardly towards the inconsistency of the curtain wall, which enhances the scenic potential of the facade, rendering it a reflective and changeable stage scene with the passing of hours, seasons and climatic conditions, never appearing equal to itself.
Claudio Esposito film director
The double-side douter wall, with its differing inclination of the slanting plane – which is fragmented into a regular sequence of recesses and projections– amplifies the changing effect of the front towards the railway, making the view dynamic. Such dynamism is lost from the opposite view, the one facing the northwest, more static and material, called to encounter a “slower” urban context, represented by the Pietralata district. Populus’ pressing soundtrack articulates the footage, which follows a continuous pursuit of light and surface, generating optical illusion effects and kaleidoscopic visions, captured by the story created under the direction of Claudio Esposito and with the photography of Fabio Paolucci.
Fabio Paolucci, photography director
The reference is to the work of Daniel Buren with the reflection and refraction effect produced by the glass and diamond-like ceramic facade panels that in a continuous metamorphic process intercept changes within the surrounding reality. Sunset has arrived. The rays of the sun directly hit the building, which absorbs them, reflects them, and begins to glow. The footage is now more static, the border between sky and architecture becomes transitory, the facade vanishes and is camouflaged within the context.
Andrea Mangia aka Populous, author of the music
BNL Headquarter
5+1AA (now Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia) Architects: Simonetta Cenci, Alfonso Femia, Gianluca Peluffo Rome 2016
30.000 mq
Key facts Length: 230 m Width: 43 m Height: 56 m Building weight: 84,000 ton Total surface: 85,000 sq.m. Inground surface: 23,000 sq.m. Volume: 93,000 cu.m. Key facts Facades Glass facades: 20,000 sq.m. Unitized facades: 15,000 sq.m. Transom Mullion facades: 3,000 sq.m. Window Band: 2,000 sq.m. Ventilated facades: 10,000 sq.m. Timing Start and end our project: 25.05.15 - 11.07.16
Awards The Plan International Awards Winner 2016 LEAF Awards Finalist 2016 Iconic Awards 2017 “Best of the Best / Architecture”
ORIZZONTE EUROPA
Render 3D Š 5+1AA (now Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia)
Engineering
“It was amazing to see the initial idea becoming “structural” reality”
Nicola Goglio Design Engineer Stahlbau Pichler
On site
“14 very intense months on a crazy project in Rome”
Diego Pulici Project Manager Stahlbau Pichler
Foto © Luc Boegly
We did the entire envelope of the building and what i like most are the two faces the unitized glass façade at the front and the ventilated façade at the back”
Luca Benetti Sales Director Stahlbau Pichler
Foto © OskarDaRiz