IL CENTRO - Shopping Centre

Arese, Milan - Italy
Shopping Centre, over 200 shops
WLHP + Packaged system

CASE HISTORY

Il Centro

The biggest commercial center in Italy

Built on the area where from 1963 until 2005 Alfa Romeo cars were built, IL CENTRO shopping centre is the largest mall ever built in Italy in a single construction phase and took only two years: 93,000 sqm of GLA and boasting over 200 shops, cafés, restaurants, outdoor and indoor sporting facilities, cultural and health activities.

The challenge

The huge size of the building imposed a challenge to the design team in respect of the control of both build and operational cost, future metering and tenant charges also figured very highly within the design criteria.

Another key point was ensuring all year round comfort for customers, regardless of the external weather conditions and internal location visited.

For the future, consideration had to be guaranteed for flexibility of the area layout allowing the possibility to change the use of the individual areas according to the needs of the tenants.

IL CENTRO external view

The building

Designed by the world-renowned architect Davide Padoa, CEO of Design International, Michele De Lucchi and Arnaldo Zappa, IL CENTRO shopping centre is built using an innovative technique of “several attractive squares” to create meeting points: the building is not designed with shops forming a typical shopping centre but to envision mansions and squares along a road. 

The shopping centre has been built using the most advanced technologies as far as equipment and the structure are concerned, with a roof supported by one of the largest glulam (glue laminated wood) structures in Europe and it is going to obtain LEED Gold certification by the international certification U.S. Green Building Council, also thanks to the Clivet air conditioning systems.

IL CENTRO external view

The team

Investor: Finiper - Italy

Arcitectural project: aMDL Architetto Michele De Lucchi - Italy

Plant project: Tekser - Italy

The solution

The air conditioning of the hypermarket and the Fashion Court is entrusted to a water loop system WLHP powered by a district-heating and district-cooling system, that provides the primary fluid to the water loop and air handling units of the hypermarket.

The Finiper hypermarket is served by 15 Clivet air handling units utilizing hydronic systems, chosen for their high efficiency and for their great construction flexibility, which makes them easily adaptable to the different architectural requirements.

Around 200 Clivet packaged air-conditioning units and direct expansion air-conditioning Heat Pumps units for water loop application from the Versatemp Range provide the comfort to many shops of the Fashion Court, combining high energy efficiency, compactness and ease of installation and maintenance.

The high-volume areas such as malls are served by Clivet air to air rooftop heat pumps for medium occupation areas, equipped with double refrigeration circuits with tandem scroll compressors for a continuous adjustment of capacity to the actual environmental demand, electronically controlled EC plug fans with brushless motors for a better control and new thermodynamic energy recovery technology ThOR, which increases the energy recovered, improving the overall efficiency of the units.

The comfort of McDonald’s and Ristò restaurants is guaranteed by Clivet full fresh air heat pumps for applications where it is necessary for total air exchange, such as restaurant kitchens. These units heat, cool and dehumidify the air introduced, compensating for the air expelled through the kitchen extract hoods, providing a comfortable environment for the operators and resulting in a reduction of up to 50% of primary energy consumption compared to traditional systems.

Clivet rooftops

The system

15 AQX air handling units

200 Clivet VERSATEMP autonomous air conditioners and direct expansion heat pump air conditioners

37 CLIVETPack rooftops

The results

Thanks to the WLHP system, each individual area/shop automatically sets and maintains its ideal climate year-round, independently of its own position, size or intended use, allowing total year-round comfort for the customers.
As far as the initial investment costs are concerned, the simplicity of installation of the heat pumps and the apportionment of their purchase to the individual shop owners resulted as a winning strategy.

Management costs and  environmental impact have also benefited. Using the WLHP system, the air-conditioning is only activated when and where it is needed: the loop water transfers the energy between areas with opposing thermal needs. The energy efficiency of the individual units is very high, thus reducing consumption, with primary energy saving up to 35% in comparison to traditional systems.

The principle of decentralization, on which the rooftop solution is based and the control of high-volume commercial environments and restaurants, made it possible to reduce operating costs and eliminate the ones of pumping. It also ensures maximum flexibility in the use of space, with the possibility of changing floor layouts  to the areas and to redistribute commercial spaces depending on the needs of the tenants.

Area Download

The project

Rooftop positioning

WLHP System

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Packaged System

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