Location_Milan
Year_2023
Area_515 sqm
Client_Selexi srl
Service_Preliminary and executive project, building site direction

 

The project for Selexi‘s new headquarter arises from a figurative translation of the company activity. Selexi produces multiple choice tests.
As company leader in Italy, it also does much more: it manages the entire competition procedure for public and private entities, via web, in its own test centers or in large sports halls. It also conducts training and research activities.
However, the impact on the lives of thousands of people materializes precisely in the test.
Whether on paper or digital, the test phenomenology is basically a small square to be left blank or marked in black. In or out, on or off. There are no shades or half tones.

 

 

 

 

The project of the new offices takes on the binary essence of black and white as an alphabet. Black is assigned to the central core of services which includes stairs, elevators, toilets, cafeteria, while white marks the operational area and meeting rooms.
The choice is not arbitrary, but dictated by the desire to pander the pre-existing architectural elements, which featured black glass door frames along the technical core of the business center and a white curtainwall on the facade.
This binary setting determines great clarity of the layout and facilitates orientation within the building parcel, which is in turn divided into departments, via walls that alternate the transparent glass surface with the translucent polycarbonate.

The style of the new Selexi headquarters, like all the offices designed by Hypnos, differs greatly from the “Luna Park” style, launched years ago in Silicon Valley.
In the latter it always seems that the company considers the workers as children to be entertained. The great respect we feel for the world of work keeps us distant from that stylistic current, very fashionable, but ultimately subtly dissimulating and therefore false.
An office interior project must focus on creating bright and neutral environments, without artificially making them appear to be something they are not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elevator landing area
In a large business center it is easy to lose orientation. In the maze of towers that rise from mezzanine floors and elevators with multiple landings, the reception of every single company is that place where a longed-for epiphany takes place. It is that place where you can see with a clear and unequivocal sign that you have finally arrived at the place you were looking for! To make this experience powerful, the entire elevator landing room is painted with satin black enamel, the carpet on the floor is black and only the company logo stands out against the homogeneous background. To give formal definition to a low wall containing a pre-existing ramp, a bench is added, obtained by doweling a simple sheet of raw steel press-bent at ninety degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reception area
Immediately beyond the entrance there is a classic reception lobby: front counter and waiting seats performing the company colours. Natural light is refracted between the polycarbonate panels and then absorbed by steel counter with a natural finish.
The counter is anchored to the slab only in a small portion, the rest is cantilevered above the floating floor. A technical curtain (Polyscreen by Bandalux) acts as a backdrop, filtering the light and shielding the uninspiring view of the dated internal facades of the business center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Office area
From the reception is possible to quickly reach on the left a cafeteria and the main meeting room. The various departments unravel towards the right, with an alternation of glass walls and opaque walls, in order to mix privacy and natural light diffusion, maintaining an overall view capable of evoking the vastness of the open space.
The management area, enriched by an open view towards the south, is located at the end of the route and therefore enjoys greater privacy.
Being an office organized by departments, according to a precise organizational chart, hybrid and less formal corners have been provided where colleagues can meet or make a private call. One for all is an hotdesk counter, made inexpensively in drywall painted satin black, like all the walls of the internal core of the offices. In the lower part, two pre-existing fancoils are masked, while in the upper part there is space for recessed lighting with micro LED spotlights. The transparent polycarbonate stools by Pedrali, “Gliss” model, dialogue with the opposite wall, translucent and iridescent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits

General Contractor (edilizia e arredo): Loft82
Electrical and plumbing systems: Scarcelli Italia S.p.A.
Construction of the reception desk and bench: Bresciani