Eku systems for the IMA building complex dedicated to the production of blistering machines

Since August 2021, the new IMA building complex dedicated to the design and production of blistering machines for the pharmaceutical industry has been operational in Ozzano dell’Emilia (BO). The Eku 50 Glass and Eku 50 Glass S façade systems and the Eku 78 TT thermal-break system were used to create the curtain walls and windows.

The IMA division that designs and manufactures automatic machines for the packaging of pharmaceutical products, from August 2021 has its new headquarter in the complex built in Ozzano dell’Emilia (BO), which insists in a living area of over 23,600 square meters, divided into three blocks linked together. Behind this tripartite structure there is the factory with the production.

The offices emerge from the industrial complex as two mirrored bodies with four floors above ground, with a fifth floor intended for plant engineering. The administrative offices and the executive part are located on the first floor. The other floors are for the R&D offices.

These two bodies are joined by a front part, namely the entrance to the headquarters, with the bodies of the two vertical elevators alongside. The glass surfaces of these three bodies were made with systems for curtain walls, screened with balconies equipped with crystal railings. On the inner part there is a cloister shaded by four trees.

At the end of the two parallel bodies there is the entrance to the “theater”, a structure for business meetings, conferences, training courses, which in terms of shape and organization refers to a theatrical space. Actually, to separate the office area from the production plant, there is a service block, which has a conference room on the ground floor, and a canteen upstairs, totally independent from the kitchen and other rooms..

Covering the canteen there is a roof garden, which can be used during breaks. Metal structures have been installed on the facades that act as support of the vertical green system, rising from the flowerbeds on the ground: in this way natural screens are created against solar radiation.

Part of the offices was also built inside the production plant, due to the need for some technicians to be in direct contact with the operation departments. Even then, a curtain wall more than 100 meters width and almost 7 meters high, was created.

Being located to the south, the windows are subject to intense radiation, so they were shielded with a jutting balcony about 4 meters deep, which in it is actually a wooded path.

Besides functioning as a screen, therefore, the balcony acts as a green mitigation of the building’s dimensions: the structure is essentially divided in half by a wodden-lined avenue, which covers the upper part. A particular visual effect not only for people outside, but also for persons inside.

«Solar control glass was used for all the glass surfaces» point out the architect Stefano Quarenghi, who led the works, «who at the same time still guaranteed a high level of transparency. The “green” solutions adopted in the project perform both an aesthetic function and, above all, a mitigating function that contributes to the comfort of the working environments».

High performance aluminum systems

«The windows of the central part and of the two vertical elevators were made with the Eku 50 Glass-S system to minimize the external visual impact» tells us Mauro Ingrasci, sales manager of Fragi Srl, the Brescia Fabricator which created and installed the facades.

«For the facades of the remaining offices, the Eku 50 Glass stick façade was used, which ensures high mechanical resistance and excellent thermal insulation properties».

The facades are all equipped with Guardian SunGuard SNX 60 Triple glazing, which despite being solar control, offers a transparent, perfectly neutral, very attractive appearance. It is a glass with a triple layer of silver, which allows 60% of natural daylight and just 29% of solar heat to enter inside. The same type of glass was used for the offices of the production department, but with a doble glazing.

«If we look at the facades of the two mirrored bodies» continues Mauro Ingrasci, «the opening doors are not protruding façades, but were made by inserting Eku 78 TT tilt and turn windows: this thermal-break system ensures a high robustness of the structure in aluminum, allowing the production of large windows.

This system was used for the opening parts of the facade of the production plant and for the glass walls of the canteen: even in the latter case we are faced with large windows that reach the ground».

«In terms of energy performance, the three bodies used as offices are technically comparable to a Class A4, while the reduction of 42 dB required by law is guaranteed from the acoustic point of view».

Project at a glance