Haier and IVM: Design celebrates Design

New offices for the Milan Experience Design Center
under the banner of technology, personalisation and consistency

Design takes centre stage in the new offices of Haier’s Milan Experience Design Center (MED) at Brugherio, created by IVM in partnership with AG Studio di Architettura.

Of course, this is to be expected in a setup like MED, where every day a team of young professionals from all over the world works on design strategy, industrial design and interaction design to create ecosystems of household products for global brands like Candy, Hoover and Haier.

The client brief was for an inclusive, shareable physical and working space, with dedicated areas for projects, interviews, workshops and specific activities such as product prototyping. In other words, a space that speaks and lives technology, innovation and design.

IVM’s solutions achieved these objectives through their well-honed ability to interpret a project’s philosophy and the client’s needs.
MED’s new offices, in Haier’s Headquarters, are a true masterpiece of research and design.

The 250-square-metre space has been split into two large areas – the “shared space” and the “focus space” – connected by three alternating colours: white, black and grey. These are used in the furniture, ceilings, false ceilings and partitions to provide a crisp, modern, high-tech setting for the whole office.

IVM has brought this technology to the décor by using the Stilo desking system, a multidisciplinary approach aimed at making the most of integrated technologies and furniture. There are 18 Stilo workstations in the “shared space”, an open space dominated by the white floor, false ceiling and desks. Each workstation is lit by the Lucerna lighting system that encourages teamwork and guarantees the effectiveness of the biodynamic light.

The shared workstation space then transitions to the dedicated workshop, project room and meeting room areas, designed and created with custom solutions, especially with regard to the partitions.
The Kira partition system made it possible to define truly unique, flexible, high-tech solutions: from whiteboard walls to one-way glass panes.
One window in each space is painted all-white, for use as a whiteboard. MED specifically requested a project room that can easily be transformed into a viewing room, so IVM created a one-way window that allows people to see inside without being seen, under the right lighting conditions. Between the open space and the central corridor is a library that, for MED, is the true heart of the site. It is the CMF (Colour – Material – Finish) Library, which acts as an archive and a place for inspiration and consultation.

In the new offices of Haier’s Milan Experience Design Center, professionals create innovation, design solutions to improve product user experience and interpret consumer needs as effectively as possible. They do it with an eye to quality, technology and planning.
These are also the values, processes and directions on which IVM has built its own success story over the years.

CREDITS
Client: HAIER
IVM Project Manager: AG Studio di Architettura
Furnishing and Partition Solutions: IVM
Photo: Eugenio Luti