San Vendemiano (Treviso) There has been much talk of the futuristic titanium structure of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain: “A work of art containing works of art”, as it has been defined. Not everyone, however, knows that the thirty-six thousand square meters of titanium coatings that surround this museum, inaugurated by the King of Spain on October 18 ’97, were produced and assembled by the Permasteelisa group, a company of San Vendemiano, in the province of Treviso, which has more than a thousand employees and aims to reach 520 billion in revenue for the year 2000, against the 389 billion of the year that has just ended. In the Treviso-based company, founded by its president Massimo Colomban, forty-nine years, in the mid-70s, prefabricated panels were produced, covering the structure of the buildings in a “science-fiction” architectural envelope. But these panels are not only passive, “façade”: they are, in fact, also “active”, that is, silico-amorphous photovoltaic glasses that in summer repel the heat of the sun’s rays, while on the contrary, in winter , they absorb it to heat the interior of the building. These panels, then, are also able to retain and circulate inside the building the thermal energy produced by the lights and, even, by the same human beings that are inside. This state-of-the-art technology allows energy savings of up to 40 percent, but Permasteelisa’s “scientists” are sure to reach up to 80 percent over the next ten years. This group, which today is among the world leaders in the sector, counts thirty companies present in twenty-two countries with sixteen plants in Europe, USA, Australia and Asia, has a backlog of 500 billion lire and 25 percent of Permasteelisa Pacific is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
But 1998 is the year of the “big orders” for the Treviso group, which estimates that it will reach 441 billion turnover in the next year. First of all, in Sydney, Australia, where the next Olympics will take place: from here the requests for the futuristic theater, the parliament, the central airport, some prestigious hotels and palaces started. Then, in the San Vendemiano plants, the interior walls, walls and decors for eighteen kilometers long are being built and installed at the “Chek Lap Kok” airport in Hong Kong, which will be inaugurated in April ’98 and will be the most great in the world. This is a contract of about 80 billion lire for supply and installation. Furthermore, the new Lloyds headquarters in London is currently under construction, and finally there is the project of the Tour Sans Fins in France, 430 meters high; to start work, he is waiting for President Chirac. Among the more than a thousand buildings scattered around the world that have already been covered by the Permasteelisa, the most famous are the headquarters of Channel 4 TV in London, the interior of the Tres Grand Bibliotheque in France, the second Chamber of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Eni building in Milan and the Bank of Italy in Rome.