04 Jan 2016
Matteo Thun designs new village HQ for Davines Group to be a 'home of sustainable beauty'
BY Kim Megson
Italian architects Matteo Thun and Luca Colombo have designed a verdant new village in Parma, Italy to house the new headquarters of hair and skincare brand Davines Group.
Spread over 11,000sq m (118,400sq ft), Davines Village will feature a skin bar where visitors can try the brand’s Comfort Zone range of products, education zones for hairdressers to train, and the company’s development laboratories, all set around a luminous glasshouse and biodiversity gardens.
The architects, who work together as part of the MTLC firm, have envisioned a village inspired by classical Italian farmhouses.
“The site will be a contemporary interpretation of traditional forms and patterns and gabled roofs,” said the Davines Group in a statement. “Cubic spaces gathering around a central courtyard will be at the the heart of the village. The distinct sense of beauty, professional values and mission of Davines will be symbolised by the architectural concept. It will be a home of sustainable beauty.”
The group said the project is being designed to meet high standards of environmental and ethical sustainability and wellness. Speaking exclusively to CLAD in the latest issue of CLADmag, Thun claimed that these aspects of architecture can no longer be ignored.
“We think that every architect and designer should aim for innovation, save resources and energy, take cost engineering seriously and think about how to dismantle a building or how to dispose of an object while designing it,” he said.
Construction work on the project has now begun, with completion of the whole village scheduled for mid-2017.
Thun recently completed work on the refurbishment of the newly-opened JW Marriott in Venice, located on a private island, featuring 250 guestrooms and a 1,715sq m (18,460sq ft) GOCO Spa.
He also revealed that he is currently working on a wellness hotel in Bürgenstock, Switzerland called Waldhotel Healthy Living.
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