“Un progetto affascinante, ambizioso e tecnicamente complesso in cui regnano architettura e innovazione”
Intervista all’Architetto Carlo Paternò
Let's take a step back... Architect Paternò, tell us about when it all started, just a few months before the famous inauguration on 17 July 2017
A big project before my wedding, which took place a week after the inaugural ceremony. I was contacted three months earlier by Eng. Simone Massaro, who explained to me his great vision for the creation of a truly futuristic Innovation Hub, about which he already had very clear ideas. I found his idea decidedly compelling and above all of value for our territory. So, I immediately seized this great opportunity with enthusiasm!
I would dare to define the project as fascinating, ambitious and technically complex.
In a short space of time, many processes and professionals at work: in almost 1600 m2, 50 to 60 workers gathered to discuss and collaborate together. A top-level construction site management. One of the most stimulating aspects of this path, beyond the possibility of working with a brilliant mind like Eng. Massaro, it was the involvement of many people and professional figures that the project tied together in a relationship that lasts over time.
Which key concepts guided the implementation of the first project?
The key concepts that guided the entire project have their roots in the values of Community, Collaboration, Sustainability and Innovation. The transposition of the ancient Greek Agora also played a central role, recreated within the Campus through the creation of a large central square, within which different people can meet and discuss, encouraging the birth of new ideas. I would also talk about the key to understanding the final project and the interpretation we wanted the new "inhabitants" and visitors to give upon entering the Hub. From the beginning the common mission was to recreate a workspace that was highly technological but at the same time capable of remembering our land. A cultural heritage enclosed in a work-environment that tells of the courage to leave, after which there can still be a return, to one's origins, to enrich our territory. The design of corners and common spaces that would remind every guest or user of the campus of the Sicilian sun, the majesty of the volcano and the sparkle of the lava, the scent of its citrus fruits and the wisdom of the olive trees that surrounded the squares and courtyards. All this in an unprecedented sensorial journey, a tour among the technological wonders of a space essentially divided into 2 parts: 55% dedicated to work areas with equipped work-stations and 45% to recreational spaces.
How does the second project differ from the first?
Simple answer: it differs in point of view. The first project stands out for the elements of Sicily that I described above, brought back into a sophisticatedly futuristic environment. In the second project, we move from our land to describe the entire Mediterranean from a different point of view. Exactly like in the Odyssey, Ulysses leaves his Ithaca to return to his homeland after an adventurous journey.
What are the technical guidelines in your work and then the elements from which you are most inspired in the creation of a project?
It is the continuous confrontation that creates a design matrix. It is necessary to put all the needs in the foreground, which then become the cornerstones of a project for the optimization of space. The needs change from client to client, from project to project. Sometimes it is necessary to know the client better to understand what he has in mind and what he wants to achieve. The Eng. Massaro had a detailed vision of the final result and was immediately complicit in the fundamental decisions in the design phase.
What were the aspects that required greater effort in the new project for FMF?
The technological systems have increased. Expectations are higher on everyone's part. We have improved the architectural quality compared to the previous project.
Furthermore, to increase the comfort of the Hub's inhabitants, a greater effort was necessary to create recreational spaces that were not too far from those on the first floor, but which were even more innovative and technologically comfortable.
Could you reveal to us some small architectural details of what will come to life on the second floor?
The new space is immersed in an inspirational environment that awakens the senses, made of vegetation, water and expertly crafted natural stone.
The three new control and monitoring rooms will be made up of 9 rows of futuristic workstations built to measure and facing a wall of monitors (wall screens) of almost 20 m. We are working on controlling the quality of air, light and also sound.
Lava stone is an element and material that still continues to make up a large part of the interior design of the campus. Why?
The lava stone is the official representative of the place. I have always focused on its potential from the first job I took on, to find that element that distinguished my design, becoming my "signature". In every project lava stone always finds new life; in particular, in the new office, he leaves the vertical and continues to draw the horizontal.
Cosa rappresenta per lei FMF e cosa vede nel prossimo futuro?
Personally, I see it as a great opportunity for me and the firm I represent. For the rest, I am happy to be an integral part of this drawing and its new story. Where there is research, there will always be space for architecture, and I feel at home here.