Project Focus

< Project: New AB Medica SpA HQs < Plant designer: Planning Srl < Plant type: Hydronic System
< Location: Milan, 2014 < Architect: Giuseppe Tortato < Total Cooling Capacity: 1250 kW
< Application: Offices < Investor: AB Medica SpA < Total Heating Capacity: 1x ERACS2-WQ 3202 S,
1x ERACS2-Q 1762 XL-CA-E-S, 1x ClimaPRO

Energy efficiency and comfort

in the new AB Medica SpA location
Iconic class A building equipped with modern cutting edge technologies,
such as the multi-purpose heat pumps by Climaveneta.

The work is almost finished on the new headquarters for AB Medica

SpA, specialised in the production and marketing of medical
technology, bio-materials, surgical devices and robotic surgery
equipment.

The building, situated on the outskirts of Milano has been designed

by Architect Giuseppe Tortato and plant designer Eng. Marazzi
combining the functional and symbolic aspects expressed by the
client, with the desire of innovation and requalification in a suburban
context alongside the Milan-Varese highway.

The result is an iconic building, representing the value of excellence

and the philosophic innovation of the group, but also strongly
contemporary with great attention to the energy efficiency and to
the psychological well being in the workplace.
 Project Focus
Speaking about the birth of the project, Arch. Tortato states:
“I clearly remember the day in which I presented the design
concept of the new AB Medica headquarter project to Dr. Cerruti,
company president. The room was crowded with employees and
managers. In a short speech I made, accompanied by images and
sketches that described the project, I spoke about a fast and
functional building but at the same time representative of the forms
of activity it was supposed to contain as well as the company it
was supposed to represent. I spoke about sustainability, industry,
creativity, and experimentation, sun exposure, noise pollution from
the highway, I spoke about well-being in the work place. I spoke
about AB Medica, about the excellence that it represents. Those
who listened saw triangles, ship hulls, hills, sunny patios, functional
plant schemes that generated and married the forms of the
building inside a geometric cage generated and defined by the
rules and the urbanism that characterised the landowner’s property.
At the end, the atmosphere was silent, everyone held their breath a Speaking about the new AB Medica location, Architect Tortato
little stunned and amazed by the unusual shapes they had seen. states: “My work has always been aimed at breaking with
It seemed like there could be a feature that could not be summed traditional conventions, proposing projects that restore the
up in a simple rectangular box. It was not easy to believe. centrality of sensory experience, imagining a conscious man,
The silence was broken when Dr. Cerruti turning towards me,
eager to engage in real life experiences, not only about life, but
looked me in the eye and said with satisfaction “I like it”- The
also about smell and touch, and together bigger than being an
doubts vanished and there was clarity to all that those white
shields, those angular forms were amazing and functional, and
urban area, to work and to live, up also to shelter, bringing
above all would become reality. This is how all things are born.” nature where it is possible, creating oases, in restoring
shelters, where dimension is not important, the approach can
be applied starting from one room, arriving in a house, and a
neighbourhood, communicating with the senses, in contrast
with how much comes in artificial wrappers, such as the
The particular lot conformation and the constraints imposed by the highway shopping centers that cancel and belittle the man in cookie
have guided the design towards the triangular frame similar to a nautical cutter schemes, or how in the case of the spa, where we
hull that slides through artificial hills functioning as thermal and acoustic come placed in hamster cages, with the wheel, and the pre-
insulation. The volume sculpted at the base by large inclined concrete established paths, beyond the restlessness of acquisition of a
baffles, a view that is freed on the top floor in a very aerial and luminous good, or the beautiful dress, the man is something more, but in
way, made completely of glass, where open space offices are distributed. general he forgets, there I wish for a conscious man, I do not
The roof has been given solar shading and characterised by triangular like trends, I desire for myself, and for others, real-life
openings on the patios that guarantee natural light for the whole office experiences, and I want to touch them, and above all I want to
floor. The use of glass is thoughtful, in accordance with a high efficiency prove that when I say yes, it can be done..”
classification, while remaining an element of quality and strongly
characterising the work environment.

The building has been given technologically advanced systems that exploit
renewable energy associated with ground source water and air, representing
the advantages of a Class A building.

The energy analysis conducted on this building’s plant system has led to the
design of a heating and cooling system with a hybrid heat pump: a multi-
purpose water condensed heat pump, ERACS2-WQ 3202 S, that exploits
ground source water and a multi-purpose air condensed heat pump,
ERACS2-Q 1762 XL-CA-E, which exploits the thermal component of the air.

Depending on the energy request by the building, the external air temperature
and the resulting power plant efficiency, the control system activates one of
the two heat pumps.
 Project Focus
The plant has been completed with the installation of ClimaPRO, the new
management and optimisation system by Climaveneta, designed to minimise
energy consumption and to simplify the operation and maintenance of the
central heating and cooling system. The supervision system manages and
adjusts each component directly involved in the production and the distribution
of the heating and the cooling energies, therefore involving chillers and heat
pumps, pumping groups as well as the source-side devices like, for example,
the cooling towers.
In addition, ClimaPRO measures in real-time all the operating variables from
the field, for each individual device and each of the main system branches, by
using serial communication lines as well as dedicated analogue signals.
The acquired data is then compared with the design data of each single unit
at many different working conditions, thus allowing the implementation of
control strategies based on dynamic algorithms which take into account the
real operating conditions.
To underline, ClimaPRO is a completely open system capable of integrating
with other management systems to exchange all necessary information about
controls, notifications and general data.

Both the multi-purpose units installed in the new AB Medica SpA headquarters
belong to the INTEGRA range by Climaveneta. They represent the evolution of
reversible chillers, which are able to produce cold and hot water
simultaneously and have been specifically created for 4 pipe systems.

During the months of the year when the building is mainly requesting cold
(summer, spring and autumn), the heat generated on the condenser is free, as
well as when the building mainly requests hot air, the cold generated on the
condenser is free (during winter).

The main feature of the Climaveneta INTEGRA units is that during each period
of the year they independently maximize energy cycle efficiency which
generates hot and cold energy. In particular, units get higher efficiency in
spring and autumn, when there are more possibilities to have simultaneous
request for cooling and heating.

Eng. Marazzi, from Planning Srl, who oversaw the

technical design of the building states:
“The ClimaPRO system is the innovative heart of the
heating and cooling system. The display and archiving of
the controlled variables permits an effective and
substantial energy management to be carried out.
Furthermore, the guarantee of constant and continued
performance verification to be maintained in the
projected range and the immediate signal of any
deviation allows the plant to be efficiently maintained
without needing the presence of specialized personnel.”

For more information:

http://www.climaveneta.com/EN/Projects/Search/2520/ab-medica.html