On 12th June 2006 UNI officially moved to its new premises: 111 people started working in the new offices placed at Via Sannio 2, Milan, without wasting any time or losing efficiency.
In the framework of the urban renovation of a former industrial area (where the Tecnomasio Italiano was placed early ‘900), which is now in a central part of the city, the building hosting us is fully aligned with the architectural style and the history and tradition of this area: the use of glass walls is actually restricted just to a vertical band above the main entrance, while the whole building is painted in the so called “Milan yellow”, which was typical of this city late ‘800, as well as the bricks on sight of the proto-industrial buildings.

This building is made up of two half-bodies connected by a central, circular, high lobby.
The entrance, where the reception and the switchboard are placed, is closed, at the very top, by a pyramidal, self-cleaning glass roof and allows the access to the rooms of the mezzanine, as well as to the basement. The pyramidal glass dome is the most striking element of the building: supported by stainless steel cables and connecting rods, this dome gives an idea of lightness, in spite of its complex structure. The use of glass and the consequent transparency play an important role inside this building: the internal dividing walls are actually realised with high glass walls, marked by serigraphy distinguishing the different areas and enabling to see all the rooms from one part to another of the building, offering a progressively widening idea of space.

The mezzanine hosts meeting rooms, the area designed for the consultation and sale of standards and of UNI deliverables, some offices, toilettes and technological rooms. Although standards are often worked out online, thanks to the e-tools made available to technical commissions via internet, meetings still represent a fundamental part of standardization works. The total number of our meeting rooms is 16, placed throughout the building, with a capacity ranging from 100 to 6 people (according to the purpose they are designed for), arranged as a square, as school desks or as a theatre; 10 are designed for technical meetings and training courses (and are equipped with multi-medial infrastructures such as 55’’ plasma screens and WIFI internet connection), while the 6 left are mainly designed for an internal use. Meeting rooms are named after famous past scientists who offered their great contribution to the development of sciences in Italy and all over the world.

The first floor hosts the offices of the Technical Management Area, subdivided into four open spaces, one for each department of UNI technical activity: this creates specific areas, which may be easily distinguished, and favours the exchange of information. This floor is completed by the Technical Director’s office, the one of his secretariat, meeting and service rooms.
The second floor hosts the offices belonging to the Operating Management Area, which are subdivided according to the different departments (back office, accounting, communication, training etc) and is completed by the Operating Director’s office, meeting and service rooms.
The third floor hosts the offices designed for the General Director, the President and their secretaries, for General Affairs and Personnel Area, for some meeting rooms – the so called Torricelli and Galilei (the latter is arranged as a theatre, with desks at more levels), which are mainly used for the meetings held by our Executive and Managing Boards, and, finally, for a green open space.
This building is also provided with three underground floors: the basement is mainly designed for meeting rooms (three of different size), and, partially, for operating activities (printing area, dispatch office, storage etc) with toilettes and technological rooms, while the two left are used as parking place for hosts and employees.
It is equipped with three lifts: two are inside (one is fully in glass), while the third, which works outside the building, is used for connecting the underground floors with the internal courtyard.
Beyond technical aspects (affected by UNI standards in design and in the specifications regarding materials, plants, laying out etc), this building symbolically represents standardization itself:

• the way it looks like is traditional, not fashion-oriented, reassuring and authoritative, exactly as a standard should be, because it is supposed to be a safe, unquestionable and impartial reference;
• inside transparent glasses remind that one of the main purposes of standardization is “working for transparency”, that is providing all the people concerned with a common, unambiguous and evident language, and that the transparency of processes, the visibility of works and public enquiry are tools of fundamental guarantee for standards-making work;
• finally, its placing in the city confirms that the end-users of standards are consumers, although the location is rooted in “old industrial economy”, and this highlights and reminds the historical and economic-social context standardization comes from.