Interior project for the headquarters of a web & design agency

Bologna, Italy

It defines itself as “a cheerful team of digital storytellers, interaction design nerds, web marketing alchemists and Jedi masters of programming”. It is the team from Craq Design Studio, a Bolognese web, graphic, multimedia and textual design agency, with whom we worked closely on the project of the new headquarters.

Which, in reality, is much more than just a headquarters: it is a home for the firm, but it is also a meeting point for other metropolitan realities. A hangar, or rather, the Hangar Cirenaica.

We are in fact in the Cirenaica area, a particularly dynamic area of ​​the San Donato-San Vitale district of Bologna, just outside the city walls.

Here, a historic artisan shed with a wooden pitched roof – a woodshed during the war, then a restoration laboratory – has been transformed into a hybrid place: on the one hand a convivial and event environment, on the other a professional studio and coworking space. The traditional character of the property has been maintained, enlivening it with playful and contemporary inserts. The meeting between an eclectic past and a creative present marked the essence of the entire project.

The entrance door – original – gives access to the right wing of the building, distributed on a single floor, and to the more informal environment of the studio: a large open space that can be used for events and meetings. As in a game of Chinese boxes, the first part features a glass parallelepiped (Frezza Office Furniture) divided into two spaces dedicated to clients and private meetings. The transparent volume features graphics created by Craq with multicolor films and creates a stimulating interaction with the wooden trusses and the raw concrete flooring.

Beyond, in the relaxation & food area, the eye is caught by a work by Truly Design – a collective of Turin writers known for the extensive use of color and anamorphosis – which covers the entire left wall with geometric shapes, gradients and street elements.

Always on the same side, modular sofas in a warm Seventies orange welcome moments of pause and rest; in the center, there is a large table with industrial style benches, wooden top and iron legs. The metal is repeated in the modules of the stainless steel kitchen that closes the room: a wall model of Very Simple Kitchen, light yellow, which stands out in contrast to the black painted wall behind it, with gray Hangar Cirenaica graphics in the centre.

The left wing of the building is intended for the operational space of Craq Design Studio: comfortable, functional and productive. The area is divided into three communicating work rooms placed in sequence. Here too the original character of the property resurfaces in the characteristic brick vaulted ceiling and in some exposed walls. The furnishings are minimal, defined by large black Fenix ​​tables, wired in the center and made to a design by Craq, and by technologically illuminated bodies of black ARKEON LEDs, in contrast with the white walls and the exposed façade.

The terminal part is dedicated to complementary services and bathrooms, all characterized by total black coverings and elements.

Credits

Project: MIRO architetti e Craq Studio
Arch. Giacomo Minelli, Arch. Valentina Cicognani
| collaborators: Arch. Giulia Nisi

Company:  AMA

Kitchen: Very Symple Kitchen

Glass wall: Frezza

Furnitures: Ikea, Bralco, Sedus, alea office

Furniture Tecno-team

Lighting: Esseci

Forniture: LucecheArreda