Excerpt: IDT- Brands Distribution is an office designed by the architectural firm Balance Architettura. It’s a project where is more critical the connective space than the working area itself. You can rich your desk only after a pleasant promenade, crossing the interior and the exterior spaces, meeting and talking with colleagues. The intervention is the first phase of the general redevelopment of the entire block, becoming the first Digital Hub dedicated to e-commerce in Turin.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by Architect] The presented project is the realization of IDT-BRANDS DISTRIBUTION’s directional and operative headquarters, a company based in Turin. The company is a leader in the distribution of cosmetics and clothing, specializing in launching and incubating new realities and digital start-ups.
The intervention is the first phase of the general redevelopment of the entire block, becoming the first Digital Hub dedicated to e-commerce in Turin. It is located in the north part of Turin, which has always been more of a productive and industrial area. In the last years, many cultural events have taken part or been established there, such as TorinoStratosferica, the Festival of Architecture 2017, and the music bar Q35.
This kind of work is only one of the several office projects the Balance faces in this period. One of the project’s main aims is to design more comfortable and domestic work spaces, adopting choices of sharing, eco-friendliness and sustainability. The workspace itself hasn’t been the starting point of the designing approach. The common and the meeting areas are the real core of the concept. It’s a project where is more critical the connective space than the working area itself. You can rich your desk only after a pleasant promenade, crossing the interior and the exterior spaces, meeting and talking with colleagues.
Even more, in the post-pandemic period, the ecological values and the well-being of people in a sharing space have become essential for the office who prefer to not turn into remote working. The project plan has been designed by dividing the different operational areas and work teams: the administration area, the creatives one, the media and photography one, the purchasing and the management one.
The reception area is extensive and maintains the ribs of the unique pre-existing structure; the light enters from all sides, from different heights and different angles. The industrial and artisan aspects of the building are precious and characterizing aspects that must be maintained.
Panels in birch wood and glass make the space partition, bringing the visual imagination closer to Scandinavian interiors. The client has (in part) origin and contamination in this geographical area. Using glass and wood has been designed a tailor-made modular element, with a neutral colour that is only combined with the green mint of the walls.
The desks are also customized, and it’s possible to create various compositions and shapes. The reception desk it’s a unique piece. It has been designed starting from the basement, made of steel tubular disposed of as in the concrete scaffold; the rhythm of the furniture is given by the double height of the desk and the giant plant in the integrated pot.
All the project is dominated by vegetation conceived in various internal and external dispositions. This has been a request from the client and a planning choice to increase the idea of sustainability and comfort in the workplace.