The Ferrero Group has embarked on the search for a new, friendlier concept of industrialization and almost zero energy consumption, and they are on the right track.
The Ferrero Group has star products that we all know thanks to its three most famous brands: Ferrero Rocher, Nutella and Kinder. As you can imagine, a company of this size needs a first level technical center, and they did so. In 2017 they called an architectural competition from which a winner emerged, a proposal that embodies what today’s society understands as a factory of the future.
The new Ferrero factory
The new technical center of the Ferrero Group is now under construction, although it is expected to be finished and commissioned very soon. The first stone was laid in 2020 in the municipality of Alba, in northern Italy, where most of the international group’s facilities are located.
The architecture studio that won the contest is called Frigerio Design Group, which convinced Ferrero SpA with its proposal to put 14,500 square meters of land in its hands, where to build a 12,700-square-meter building and an outdoor parking lot of 4,100 square meters.
The structure of the building is valued at 5.26 million euros
In addition to them, there are other companies that collaborated and collaborate with the execution of the project. One of them is Redesco Progetti, specialists in structures, who tell us that the structure of this building is valued at 5.26 million euros. There is also the Ariatta company Ingegneria dei Sistemi, which was in charge of the facilities, or the AG&P company that was in charge of the landscaping.
Now, nobody could do anything without the workforce, provided by the main contractor Cogefaspa. In short, we already have the main actors identified, so we can now shape the construction. It is a purely industrial building that takes advantage of the tools of the century in which we find ourselves, mixing human and natural factors in an innovative way.
An old factory, but adapted to the 21st century
The design team says that they have been based on the territory of Alba, its history, its landscape and its people to recreate the colors and geometries of the building, mimicking and reflecting the environment where it is located, of course, with a bit of abstraction, for an elongated formation does not occur naturally.
The building reflects a kinder, more productive and less harsh relationship between man and machine than in the past, when space was only used to occupy it. Thus, the idea is that architecture displaces the «ugly» image of pipes and pollution, with simple lines and fresh air, integrating the systems in the facades and the technical plant.
The Ferrero factory is developed online
As part of this use, a linear building was born, a long construction, with a ground floor for a workshop, an intermediate technical floor, and an upper office floor, but which are joined by unapologetic winks, such as a sculptural red staircase, or a glass façade that allows the interaction. The colors of the exterior reflect the life they intend to show the world. «Here it comes to produce happily!», they seem to say.
Building all this is being achieved based on clean, straight metal structures and without excessive complication. Fantastic and slender pillars cross the entire building from the foundations, up to the roof, which is supported by powerful beams that protrude at one end, forming a huge brise soleil, and along the main façade, generating a reception cantilever under which it will go. the huge sign of the brand.
It has eight interior patios
Sound-absorbing panels keep outside noise pollution controlled and improve interior acoustic quality. However, the strategy on the top floor is another. Up to eight courtyards allow light and interior ventilation, and it is planned to place green spaces in most of them, spaces that have been called «flying gardens and light wells». They are natural spaces that will make the work of the Ferrero staff more joyful.
These spaces are also used for social interaction, privacy or concentration, allowing work to develop more «naturally». In addition, the designers have arranged a series of patterns in the form of different lights, colors, smells, transparencies and volumes so that users can never get bored.
The Ferrero factory has almost zero energy consumption
Of course, this new center seeks excellence and functionality at work, creating spaces that make it possible to work with personal happiness. In the end, this building that claims to be from nZEB, Nearly Zero Energy Building, that is, with almost zero energy consumption. In addition, it will have capacity for 200 operators and will also have a cafeteria.
Of course, to develop almost zero energy consumption, it is necessary to achieve less demand and be supplied with own resources. Ferrero’s new industry strategies will be effective, since they use flying gardens, an envelope that protects from temperature changes, good ventilation in interior spaces, and they will consume part or all of the energy they need from inexhaustible sources, since the property will have photovoltaic panels that will generate up to 300 kW (ea).
*Images courtesy of Frigerio Design Group