✕ “Yeah, this is going to be another big, ugly glass box. The scene could easily repeat itself today in Milan, where glass and concrete have reshaped the city. Decades ago, it housed the Alfa Romeo headquarters and Milan’s former trade fair grounds, both later replaced by new buildings. It is against this backdrop that local firm Open Building Research (OBR) designed the new headquarters for BFF Bank, tasked with avoiding “another big, ugly glass box” while dealing with such a fragmented setting. Photo © Martina SimonatoThe first, a fully glazed volume, undergoes geometric carving to accommodate the subway below, folding into a zigzag.