Cascina Merlata housing
Gold Medal for Italian Architecture 2015
First Work Award
Italian Architecture Young Talent 2015
Nominated project
56 apartments, Milan
Built to temporally host the representatives and the staff members of the countries participating to the 2015 Universal Exposition, the building is part of a dense residential quarter of high volumes alternating with communal gardens. The building is made of 56 dwellings, on 14 floors. Common facilities for the residents are located on the ground floor.
The high rise body, emphasized by an irregular patchwork of different tones of grey contrasting with the dark recesses, extend upwards and dissolves into a white inhabited screen on the South side, where the horizontality of the balconies juxtaposes to the verticality of the light in color brise-soleil.
On the west side of the ground floor, a slender porch marks the entrance to the common areas and the dwellings, through a small patio, acting as a buffer zone between the public realm of the city and the private life of dwellings.
