The new headquarters for ISTAT (the Italian Statistics Agency) - for which a competition was organised by the public administration on the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of the unity of Italy - form an integral part of a masterplan for new office developments in the Pietralata area of Rome. The planning structure for the area imposes a series of rather rigid constraints, among which the necessity to respect entirely the external perimeter of the site – which creates in effect a big square shaped block. Other constraints are given by the necessity to respect a relatively low average building height and the requirement to not use any three-dimensional elements in the perimeter facades.

Starting from these prescriptions, the proposal of Labics has focused on the identity and specificity of the internal spaces and the articulation of the courtyard. Like a gem stone, which can appear rough and compact on the outside, while revealing inside an extraordinary rich, multifaceted and sparkling world; the design for the ISTAT headquarters turns the contrast between inside and outside into its advantage: the void of the internal court thus has been conceived as the symbolic and functional heart of the building; a real public space that expresses the values of transparency, knowledge and collective objectives.  Following this principle, the building is organised through the use of concentric zones that maximise a  focal interest towards the centre.  The external ring is a regular space with a constant width that allows for a maximum flexibility of the workspaces and offices; the central ring contains the service functions and vertical connections; the internal ring, oriented towards the court, is characterised by the presence of three very articulate glass volumes with each an individual character, which are cantilevered into the court and house collective spaces and meeting rooms.