An impressive new headquarters to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company specialized in shower cabins

An impressive new headquarters to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the company specialized in shower cabins

To celebrate 40 years of activityduka opens an impressive new headquarters in Bressanone, Alto Adige.

Due to the need to reunite under a single roof the five departments of the company, the project has continued to grow, and today what was one of the largest worksites in northern Italy has become a striking, impressive work of architecture, in slightly less than one year of work.

The first stone was laid in January 2017 in a ceremony attended by the local authorities,” says Hans Krapf, founder of duka. “We have a firm bond with our territory, so we immediately ruled out the idea of locating elsewhere. We owe a gret deal to Italy and Alto Adige.

The building designed by the firm KUP Architekten / Kerschbaumer Pichler & Partner is a giant of about 20 meters in height by 200 meters in length that fits perfectly into the profile of the valley, with its compact, clean and rigorous image, reflecting the corporate identity. The imposing look is attenuated only by a large frontal staircase that encourages visitors to make a symbolic voyage inside the world of duka.

The innovative headquarters, which is the ‘home’ of over 250 employees, is a pioneering facility with luminous, spacious rooms that encourage both professional and human dialogue and cooperation. The electrical, energy, climate control and ventilation systems also reflect the vanguard of today’s engineering.

Everything rotates around the philosophy 4.0, which calls for collaboration between software, machines and human beings. Not just digitally processed, analyzed and stored data, for quick reference or increased working precision, but also true machinery capable of lightening and streamlining human labor, moving small hardware, raising heavy loads, facilitating ongoing quality control and optimizing work organization.

We like to emphasize the fact that we have done all this,” says Hans Krapf, “including the relocation of machinery, without ever halting production! This is an important factor if we consider the fact that over 100 pallets stacked with goods are produced by duka every single day. The new headquarters is duka’s crown jewel, the result of the efforts of our entire team, who make our success and constant evolution possible, day after day.

 

The new headquarters in numbers and facts:

· 191.5 m length (like 3 Airbuses)

· 19.5 m height (including the basement)

· 50,000 square meters of usable area (like 200,000 people standing)

· 9500 square meters of facade cladding (the area of a football field)

· 150,000 tons of weight (like 3 Titanics)

· 331 km of pipes for heating and electrical wiring (the distance from Milan to Bressanone)

· 42,000 cubic meters of concrete (4000 cement mixers)

· 5050 square meters of glazed surface (like 152 single-family homes)

· 4800 tons of steel (like half the Eiffel Tower)