In Imola, a project signed Open Project for a production complex that enhances the brand
IMOLA (BOLOGNA). We are located where Romagna meets the "Packaging Valley"An industrial reality of international excellence that unfolds on the Via Emilia between Reggio and Bologna and uses the skills of mechanics and the tradition of local manufacturing to propose any type of solution linked to the art and technologies of packaging.
At Imola, TeaPak operates, a company that deals with mixing, bagging and packaging for the entire European market of organic infusions produced by the parent company Yogi Tea, multinational with headquarters in the United States and Germany. The historical headquarters, occupied since the beginning in 2001 and gradually grew over the years, was no longer considered adequate with respect to the increased needs of the client. Hence the choice of a completely new construction on a lot that had already industrial destination.
The project for the doubling of production
The factory just completed allows, immediately, a doubling of the current production (which in 2018 exceeded 40 million packages, with 578 million sachets), while in a second time will allow to quadruple the production capacity.
Open Project has developed the project of the new plant, following all phases of construction (concluded in just 11 months), until the turnkey delivery.
An intervention of 13,000 square meters, divided into three areas (production, offices and corporate restaurant, infrastructure spaces), organized on a functional layout designed from the in-depth study of production flows and technologies used in the sector. The external image, characterized by volumes and essential lines, corresponds to an internal division on two levels, to encourage the use of high-tech machinery, as well as to facilitate a logistics of raw materials studied in detail.
The office building declines the roots of the brand through large vertical sunshades that recall the color palette of the packaging of products, in order to strengthen the brand image. In the same way, the building presents a decorative element with important dimensions, the mandala, an ornamental motif that represents par excellence the Indian culture, from which the Yogi Tea brand originates, represented in the variants of the graffito - on the side of the plant that runs along the entire slope facing the highway - and the perforated aluminum sheet of the facade. We also find the use of metal slabs not only as a decorative element but also as a technological element on the side of the building, to shield the emergency stairwell.
Internal innovation
As for the intervention commissioned by Bonfiglioli at Bologna, the most important innovation is found inside, in the management and configuration of the work environments, where particular attention has been paid to comfort, in function of a "humanization" and "domesticity" of the spaces, so as to arouse empathy and a spirit of belonging in the people who work and enjoy it. Thus, the work and relaxation areas are complemented by an environment dedicated to the practice of yoga.
Reinterpreting the consolidated typology of the building at the service of production, the intervention well summarizes the peculiar approach of Open Project, which combines the tension towards innovation with the instances of identity enhancement expressed by the client.