Structure/external envelope relationship in the Monte dei Paschi di Siena headquarters in Colle Val d’Elsa (SI) by Giovanni Michelucci

The new MPS headquarters in Colle Val d’Elsa (SI) is one of the latest works in which the Archt. Michelucci was directly able to attend both to the design and to the construction. It represents a symbolic building that contains many significant features of the master’s design, both as regards the design philosophy and in relation to the technical and technological features of the construction. The most characterizing element of this project is certainty its load-bearing structure. The building basically consists of two volumes for which Michelucci chose different structural solutions: a steel structure for the main volume and a steel-reinforced concrete one for the tower of the stairs. The first solution is undoubtedly more interesting from a technological point of view. From the first sketches the architect’s willingness of declaring the steel load-bearing structure arises and in according with this solution he decided to use a dry solution for the external envelope. Nowadays these design choices lead to obvious problems of thermal discomfort inside the building. This work aims at analyzing in detail the technological system of the external envelope of the building, to identify the critical energy issues mainly related to the relationship with load-bearing structure and to develop possible corrective measures.