Studio Balance Architettura transformed a late nineteenth-century building into the headquarters of the Italian startup Satispay, a payment app that’s become really popular in the country. Located in Milan’s Isola district, almost halfway between the Central Station and Porta Garibaldi Station, the complex comprises three volumes divided by two courtyards, with a total of 2,500 square metres of office space.

The blocks are designed to accommodate up to 200 employees. The intervention concerned the layout of spaces, the management of pathways and the creation of social-oriented places, with green areas for relaxation and meeting. The rooms, distributed over four floors (one of which in the basement), are separated according to competences in order to make work more functional. The result is a sort of village, called “Casa Satispay”, where all the different sectors remain at the same time interconnected and easily accessible. 

Cosy and homely, the interiors are brightened up by large windows and the continuous dialogue with the outdoor: they are fluid spaces characterised by custom-made birch wood furniture and concrete floors, ceiling beams and red accents. A specific landscape project, conceived for both inside and outside, aims to improve the quality of people’s work. 

Connected by specific pathways, the different areas (the marketing, IT development, administration, human resources, business development, account management and legal teams) are distributed around a central lobby which becomes the hub of the entire headquarters and a shared space. On the ground floor, polycarbonate partition panels, stairs and service blocks have been added; on the first floor, the two buildings separated by the larger courtyard are connected by a walkway, and -1 level, which on its own occupies 1,000 sqm, serves as a communal area.