MILANO WORK IN PROGRESS #4

Works by ANTONIO CITTERIO PATRICIA VIEL AND PARTNERS, MARIO CUCINELLA ARCHITECTS – FILIPPO TAIDELLI – GAMBARDELLARCHITETTI

curated by Luca Molinari and Simona Galateo

Opening
1 December| 6.30 pm | No Entrance Charge

Exhibition
1 December – 13 January| Monday-Friday | 3.00-7.00 pm | No Entrance Charge

Talks
14 December Dialogue between Mario Cucinella and Luca Molinari | 7.00 pm | No Entrance Charge

On Thursday 1 December SPAZIOFMGPERL’ARCHITETTURA inaugurates the fourth event in its MILANO WORK IN PROGRESS series, curated by Luca Molinari and Simona Galateo.

The exhibition presents four outstanding public and private architectural projects just completed or under construction: the Loreto subway station by Gambardellarchitetti, Parallelo – designed by Mario Cucinella Architects for the service sector – and the renovation of two residential buildings by Filippo Taidelli and Antonio Citterio with Patricia Viel and Partners.

“According to estimates by Assimpredil-Ance, almost three million square metres of residential developments are planned between now and 2016, proving that Milan is gradually, inexorably, changing. Not just through major projects and large public works, but also in its everyday details, in subway stations, homes and offices,” Luca Molinari comments.

So here we have the new Loreto train station designed by Cherubino Gambardella. His project is intended as a homage to Franco Albini, Franca Helg and Bob Noorda, designers of Milan’s first subway. Over the years, the increasing amounts of advertising and new signs had obscured the sophisticated minimalist beauty of the original station. Gambardella has restored this project to Milan, bringing it up to date and revitalising it.

The new lighting runs along the ceiling like a nerve lit up by an electric pulse. This gives a completely new look to the spaces, which are roofed with red or green flashes, depending on the line to which they lead.

All this is against a light blue background with lilac tints, which gives the station a delicate colour scheme. On the ground, an apricena stone grey paving gives unity to the floors throughout, while the light fittings form neat rows of illumination along the walls, recalling the grey streaks of the Milan fog, now transformed into a futuristic homage to speed. From the point of view of the station’s graphics, the project restores Bob Noorda’s idea, with characters placed on horizontal bands of colour. The main signs are now combined with additional signage using the same style, rhythm and concept.

Mario Cucinella Architects features in the exhibition with the 14,700m2 of the new “Parallelo” service sector building in the Famagosta district, now nearing completion. The building runs horizontally 12 metres above street level, implementing a modern philosophy of the working environment which removes hierarchies of form but not of substance, returning to a courtyard arrangement with an internal piazza and paths through greenery. With regard to its materials, the building is designed as a single large block with a glazed outer shell. It will be certified in Class A, with 2,500 m2 of photovoltaic panels integrated in the surface of the roof.

Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel and Partners are included in the exhibition with an urban redevelopment project involving the conversion of a building in the Solari zone for residential use. The building has a series of patios and roof-gardens that transform the horizontal planes into green-looking areas with tubs to contain small trees; the basement floors house the cellars, the parking area and the machine rooms.

The façade overlooking the street is finished with decorative textured concrete with a pattern of through holes that links in to the Art Nouveau motifs of the best of the surrounding buildings, emphasising the complex’s private residential character. The main building, of 8 floors plus the loft floor, is of the same height of the buildings around it.

Its elevation features a double façade which presents to the city an uneven surface of panels of gilded bronze screen-printed glass, which protect the verandas, a walkway running all around the perimeter of the building on all the floors, and contain fabric sun screens present across the whole surface.

Last but not least, Filippo Taidelli presents the renovation and restoration of a 1901 building on via Zenale. On the outside, in addition to the renovation of the existing façades, a new elevation overlooking the adjoining garden will also be created. In the centre of this front, Taidelli has created a recess running up the entire height of the building, which contains the verandas and gives the impression that there are actually two separate buildings: a brick tower with slender windows overlooking the park and a classical façade that continues and imitates the street front. The result achieved integrates attractively with the existing architecture of the area. The building will be given new insulation of its outer shell and modern utility systems (water heat pump and radiating floors) to provide users with the maximum comfort with minimal energy consumption.

“The four examples of quality architecture on display at our gallery not only adopt a contemporary design language but also bring prestige to their surroundings as far as environmental impact is concerned,” comments Graziano Verdi, Chairman and CEO of Iris Ceramica. “Iris Ceramica and FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti have a fifty year history of using their materials to promote quality, sustainable architecture, in both major works and individual projects.”