CityLife
In 2004 Studio Libeskind, in conjunction with Zaha Hadid Architects and Arata Isozaki & Associates, won the competition for a master plan to develop and reconnect the existing city fabric of Milan to an abandoned 61 acre site, formerly home to the Fiera Milano, the city’s historic fairgrounds.
With a high-rise complex, 25-acre park, public piazza, and subway station slated for completion in 2016, the first housing parcels have been completed by Studio Libeskind and Zaha Hadid Architects.
The Libeskind residences employ the classical courtyard configuration and naturalistic materials of an historic Milanese neighborhood, while presenting an asymmetrical layering of the façade.
Ranging from villas to apartment blocks, the low-rise apartments are sited on the perimeter of the site to the south and rise towards the park to the north.
The facades are clad in a finely textured, light grey tile, developed for the project by the Italian tile company Casalgrande Padana. Undulating outdoor spaces create a rhythmic pattern and are draped with a brise soleils, made with new, highly-sustainable wood.
Each building is topped off by double-height penthouses, conceived as villas, with generous terraces, luxury finishes and city views. Each of these “sky villas” has a completely unique geometry that accentuates the tops of the buildings, integrating the large-scale structures into the rich and varied surrounding urban fabric.
The five-building complex gently curves around an open courtyard with interwoven pedestrian paths that connect to the street, the park, and an underground parking structure. Conceived as an outdoor living room for residents to gather and relax, the courtyard’s tranquility is preserved by routing vehicular traffic on a loop at the outer edge of the site, which allows for direct access to the double height lobbies and leads to the private parking compartments.
The Residences utilize state-of-the-art design and are certified by the Italian Building Energy Consumption (A+ Class – CENED). Sustainable features include, but are not limited to, thermally regulated radiant ceilings, energy efficient programmable heating and cooling systems, high-tech insulation, sustainable tiles, composite wood brise soleils, and photo-voltaic-cells on the roof to generate and store electrical energy.
The first five-buildings of phase one are complete and the second phase of three additional buildings, that will accommodate 125 units, is scheduled to be completed by 2017.
Building size: 3,109,467 sq.ft
170 m (Elevation from Plaza Level)
