Mapei Specification Centre in Milan

To be even closer to designers, to their ideas and to their needs, in order to increase their knowledge and enhance their creativity. And, at the same time, provide a constant and 360° consultancy service to all the key players involved in building work such as general contractors, building companies and manufacturers of building materials (from ceramic tiles to textile materials, from wooden to resilient flooring, etc.).

To turn this ambition into something more concrete and enable the slogan “Mapei: your partner in design” to become an entirely tangible reality, the Specification Centre in Milan was officially presented to architects on the 24^th of May 2018 at Mapei headquarters in Viale Jenner.

After the Mapei Specification Centre in London, which has been operational since the 2^nd of June 2015, and the one currently being built in Paris, the "Mapei World" project also encloses the new Specification Centre in Milan, which has more engineering and design studios than any other city in the country. The Centre's aim is to strengthen the company’s already solid bond with architects and the world of design by forming that special one-to-one relationship that has proven to be the best way of tackling any problem on site with composure and in complete safety.

A profitable relationship and a precursor of even more initiatives that Mapei is constructing day after day, such as the one consolidated over the years with the magazine Marie Claire Maison Italia.

An inspiring experience, with its crowning moment during the special event held at the Mapei Specification Centre in Milan last May, in the presence of special guests such as Cinzia Felicetti, Editor of Marie Claire Maison Italia, who underlined how colours, in both design and architecture, “often have emotional or psychological implications: they nourish our sensations, bring back memories, enhance precise frames of mind”.

The architect Marco Piva was also present at the event and he reiterated the importance of the design phase and how each and every project should be tackled from a global point of view, “from the structure to the final finishes, as if they were one”. Which is precisely why it is so important to have places specifically dedicated to the analysis and selection of the most functional materials for each individual building project, such as those that Mapei has already put into practice in several cities in Italy (Lecce, Sassuolo and Rome) and abroad, as well as the one just inaugurated in Milan.

FUNCTIONAL DESIGNS WITH A HIGHLY CREATIVE CONTENT

The Mapei Specification Centre in Milan has been set up along well defined architectural lines so that, in this case too, designers and professionals from the building trade are the focal point. For Marco Manzoni - Mapei Marketing Project Manager – who designed the centre and supervised its implementation personally, “The objective was to recreate a setting that was as similar as possible to that of a design studio”.

“It is a highly professional setting and the aim of the minimalist furnishings is to eliminate distractions and improve concentration to help focus on the design being discussed”, commented Manzoni.

This highly functional space was obviously prepared using various Mapei products. The floor, for example, and one of the walls have been finished with ULTRATOP LOFT, a system used to coat the floors and walls to form seamless, innovative surfaces with a pronounced textured effect and to create unique, minimalist and contemporary surroundings.

The other walls, on the other hand, have been finished off with SILEXCOLOR TONACHINO plaster, which provides adequate protection for walls without altering their permeability, as well as giving surfaces a pleasant, attractive finish.

THERE WHERE CREATION COMMENCES

The new structure promises to be a centre of excellence for Mapei, providing practical, informative support throughout the entire specification process.

To achieve all the above, it is important to be on hand right from the very start, when a design idea has just come to mind and the materials to create that idea are being chosen. This is the phase when the specifications are written, technical documents normally attached to a tender offer that define the technical conditions of the work to be carried out.

To be on hand when a building specification is written means helping the designer during a highly delicate phase; to generate a list of the work phases and materials required to carry out a certain intervention, with reference to the approved executive design.

In the Mapei Specification Centre in Milan, the company’s most qualified personnel for each sector of the building trade assist the designer during this delicate phase to help choose the most appropriate materials, as well as to tackle potential problems beforehand during the design phase.

Each of the Mapei product lines can be viewed through a series of progress slabs, textured samples and prestigious reference projects, along with videos to illustrate installation procedures and a host of technical documents and literature, thereby providing architects, contractors and designers full assistance to help with  the Mapei products to be included in the specification as accurately as possible.

A complete consultancy service whose objective is also to provide concrete assistance to designers, even recommending teams of workers and installers “certified” by Mapei for special or particular work phases, such as the laying of resin and cementitious floorings.

From a building structure in its entirety to interior design, many Mapei solutions remain visible, while many others are hidden from view once work has been completed. In the Mapei Specification Centre there is the possibility of revealing many “hidden secrets” so that every question or curiosity posed by designers may find an answer.

And also for an issue so important for Mapei, sustainability, this is just the right place for it to be developed to the full. In fact, it is the ideal context to explain correctly not only the specific characteristics of each product, but also their precise level of sustainability.