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Transforming and shaping materials to
make a useful product that is both eco-
friendly and captivating, with the caveat that
these materials come fromwaste.This is what
Alessia Guarnaccia, architect with a Ph.D.
in Architectural Technology fromFederico
II University inNaples, has accomplished,
working on the theme of eco-compatible
buildings and the use of mixed plastics in
construction. Young and determined, in
2010 she founded the Pandora Group,
which began developing prefabricated
systems designed to save energy, winning the
CIP Eco Innovation competition in 2011,
co-funded by EACI (Executive Agency
for Competitiveness and Innovation).
Pandora’s Ecoplasbrick is an eco-
sustainable sandwich panel whose central
layer consists of mixed plastics normally
destined for landfill or incineration, and
which can be produced with different
core densities, different types of exterior
layers (stoneware, aluminum, fiberglass,
plasterboard) in any desired color. Another
prestigious award came in 2015 when
Pandora took first place in the prestigious
‘Startup Award 2015’ at Berlin’s Smau.
The company is configuring to be able
to provide a certified industrial product.
“With an eye to the circular economy”,
explains Alessia Guarnaccia, “through
a model called Sustainable Dynamic
Vertical Enterprise Network, the business is
organized to be dynamic and sustainable,
involving other stakeholders in a co-
development and open innovation scenario.
We are also trying to apply a process
innovation that will reverse the classic
chain of product-sales manufacturing. By
inverting the process, requirements and
performance come first, then the materials
as custom-made products. Pandora’s
value proposition is the ability to modify
materials at a nanometric level, and then
personalize the systems and engineer
the product according to predefined
performance criteria. An inversion of the
classic production cycle”.
The world of Pandora
erose ap-
giugno 2017
31
Alessia Guarnaccia,
architetto, Ph.D.
in Tecnologia
dell’Architettura presso
l’Università Federico II
di Napoli, nel 2010 ha
fondato Pandora Group.