Azimut Yachts inaugurates the new Avigliana headquarters: architecture, transparency, and innovation

The renovated Azimut Yachts headquarters in Avigliana has been operational since September, hosting around 1,500 employees. The restyling, part of a €50 million investment, was led by AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi, who redesigned the main building and the new multifunctional pavilion.
The collaboration with the studio, which began over ten years ago with the design of Azimut lounges worldwide, has evolved into shared projects such as the installation Seadeck 7 at Bagni Misteriosi during the Milano Design Week 2024 and, more recently, the interior design of the Magellano 27M unveiled at the Cannes Yachting Festival.

The employee offices were completely renovated by Settanta7, including a significant energy efficiency upgrade. This project, promoted by President Giovanna Vitelli, marks an evolution in Azimut’s work model, placing collaboration and teamwork at its core, overcoming rigid hierarchies even in the workspace design. It comes at a critical moment, with the successful generational transition, signaling a cultural shift where the family vision merges with modern governance based on both internal and external talents, creating a shared, open leadership model focused on solid and resilient growth.

The renewal project originates from the dialogue between past and future, delicately reinterpreting the original architecture by Gabetti & Isola, who designed the Azimut|Benetti headquarters in Piedmont, Liguria, and Tuscany in the 1990s. AMDL CIRCLE has revitalized the original project by adding a new entrance pavilion, the first step of the heritage walk that narrates Azimut’s bold and glamorous history. This contemporary intervention updates the past and projects it forward, translating the brand’s identity into architecture. Chairwoman Giovanna Vitelli describes it as a symbolic element, inspired by the Louvre pyramid, honoring and evolving a story of over fifty years as her father intended.

The new pavilion expresses a poetic contrast: an essential, metallic volume, evoking the nautical world, rests beside the historic brick structure. The water surfaces reflect models of Azimut’s “prime volte”, a tribute to the main stylistic and technological innovations of yachts born in the mountains to revolutionize the way of living the sea. Among these stands out the 2003 introduction of hull windows replacing traditional portholes to bring natural light into the cabins — a visionary choice echoed in the Avigliana renovation with full-height windows emphasizing the continuity between nautical innovation and design language.

The panoramic meeting rooms Gogamigoga, Goga, and Goghina — named after Paolo Vitelli’s boats, who with Piedmontese understatement chose a term translatable as “la bella vita” in the self-ironic sense of “darsi alla bella vita” — ideally and physically frame the Sacra di San Michele, visible from the entrance to the Susa Valley. Transparency, material, visual, and conceptual, is the guiding thread of the entire project.

Transparency becomes the manifesto of an architecture that goes beyond aesthetics to embody Azimut’s vision: a work culture based on openness, connection, and trust. This philosophy is reflected in the layout and design of the new offices, where the company’s values — transparency, collaboration, flexibility, and innovation — guide every choice. Glass replaces walls, and shared spaces take the place of closed and oversized executive offices.

This vision extends beyond the interiors, redefining how Azimut opens up to the world. At its heart is the new Virtual Reality room, the creative and technological core where the Technical and Style Offices collaborate daily and which also welcomes guests, especially yacht owners. In this space, the yacht’s hyper-technological “cuisine en scène” allows the selection of layouts, furnishings, colors, and fabrics through virtual reality, making the choice a deeply personalized experience.