Gaggiano is a district in the Milanese hinterland, historically significant as an agricultural centre thanks to the abundant presence of channelled water; dating from the end of the twelfth century in the form of the Great Canal that crosses the current historical centre. The district, located 14km from the capital of Lombardy, borders on the Agricolo Sud park, a large stretch of countryside that in the nineties was the object of a protective environmental restriction by the province’s council who did not authorise any new building if it was not tied to agricultural activities.
The lot concerning the project is part of an Integrated Intervention Plan approved in 2010 with the purpose of completing the development of the area south of Bonirola at less than a kilometre from the historical centre. The zone is a degraded area composed in part of a disused industrial zone and in part an agricultural area that is no longer productive. The plan redesigns the borders of the development, just at the edge of the restricted building area of the Agricolo Sud park; integrating three residential apartment houses, a new square and some public buildings such as a district swimming pool.
The dwelling projected is the last of the three, a free build, on one side facing the new public square and on the other, the countryside.
The great challenge of the project was to use ground as frugally as possible so as to dedicate it to green spaces and to find the right balance between public and private space. Indeed PII provided for two small apartment houses with garages for cars on the ground floor, accessible on all four sides: but conceived in this way, the dwellings had no area dedicated to a green space, a part from at the edges of the service roads. Furthermore, other dwellings, located in the middle of the construction, were dark and lacking in quality.
For this reason a modification of PII was decided upon and the plot completely re-thought. Not being able to position the garage partly underground because of the presence of the water, it was decided that 50% of the garage space would be removed from the ground floor of the dwelling and positioned in light structures at the edge of the area. Thus the internal access system could be rationalised and the development diminished by 50% allowing the saved space to be used for a large communal garden directly accessible from the public square, and onto which the entrances of the two apartment houses, now of good quality, also face.
On the upper floors, the plans were designed according to principles of flexibility, quality of communal spaces, and of continuity between internal and external spaces of the dwellings. The 3,600msq were subdivided into slices of 55, 99, 100 and 115 msq. The attic plans provided for four larger sized dwellings. The presence of terraces combined with a very high percentage of dwellings with double fronts, guarantees quality both from a spatial and a functional point of view as well as optimal environmental comfort. The relationship between service areas and served areas follows the same logic on every level and for all types so as to rationalise internal space and to permit the maximum flexibility of the dwellings. Flexibility that has been gained not only in the internal lay out of the rooms but also in the possibility of varying the functional mix from floor to floor.
Even the internal fixtures were designed to accentuate the spatial characteristics of the apartments. White walls capture the light and wooden floors bring warmth to the domestic walls. The fixtures of the living room are large and fluid whilst all the windows in the other rooms are full height: this choice was made in homage to traditional Milanese architecture.
The final image of the two apartment houses is marked by a system of various vertical metal tie-rods. This choice was dictated by the need to be able to modulate the level of porosity of the terraces on the four sides of the buildings. These bring shade and protection and enable the external areas of the dwellings to be subdivided into areas of use. To the North East, the system of tie-rods is less thick so as to permit greater luminosity in those buildings that have been planned with careful placing of plant and attention to details such as those classified A+, the maximum legal standard for national energy saving.
Client: Meraviglia s.p.a.
Architecture: SCAPE
Structural and plant engineering: Meco Engineering s.r.l.
Contractor: Meraviglia s.p.a.
Task: Design and assistance to the building site
Energetic performance: Classe A+
Chronology: 2011-2013
Project Data: 3.600 sqm
Budget: 4.200.000 €
Images Credits: Marco Tripodi
