Durst Opens New ‘Futuristic’ Headquarters in Italy

Italian wide-format printer manufacture Durst has opened what it calls a “futuristic” new headquarters and customer experience center in Brixen, in northern Italy.

The company says the new building “represents a watershed in its transformation into a highly integrated process service provider.”

Customers, employees and business partners were among the 1,000 guests who attended the inauguration ceremony for the facility. Speakers included CEO and co-owner Christoph Gamper; owner Harald Oberrauch; owner Christof Oberrauch; Mayor Peter Brunner of Brixen; and several other area dignitaries, including two speakers from the architectural firm of Monovolume, who designed the building.

Durst says the iconic design for a company building with a tower was first presented more than 50 years ago, but never realized. Architects Monovolume pursued the original concept and designed a flat, floating ‘wing’ with a six-story tower. The powder-coated metal façade has 850 multi-colored, luminous window elevations arranged in pixel-like fashion. The pixelated facade is meant to symbolize its business model of dealing in high-performance printing systems-from image data processing and printing to final product finishing.

Durst says in the future, it will invite more of its international customers to the customer experience center inside the nearly 19,000-square-foot building.

Durst employs more than 700 people and has more than 20 subsidiaries across the world. According to the company, its history dates back more than 80 years is closely associated with the Oberrauch family, which is now in the third generation of ownership. The management board recently underwent a management change with Christof Oberrauch handing over the reins to his son, Harald Oberrauch. At the same time, Christoph Gamper was appointed CEO, and he has now been given stronger ties to the business through joint ownership.

Gamper has led Durst’s transition and introduced a new management structure and a new business philosophy: passion for technologies and markets, innovation as the driver, and active collaboration and participation in every area, the company says

“This is a very proud day in the long history of Durst,” Gamper told guests at the grand opening. “We do not fear the future. We are here to shape the future. We have the best employees, the best customers and the best technology. Driven by the mantra of innovation, Durst offers complete solutions from pixel to output. Here at our headquarters in the south Tyrol is where things come full circle with the mountain habitat and the aim of focusing not just on the machines but also on the people behind them.”

To watch a video about the building of the new facility click here.