Housing Contest

date: 2011
client: Assimpredil Ance, Federlegno-Arredo, IN/ARCH, Ordine degli Architetti, Pianificatori Paesaggisti Conservatori del Comune di Milano
object:  Competition for the construction of a repertory of high-performance and low cost houses – Housing Contest
location: Milano, Italia
size data:
Commercial gfs 6688,51 sq.m.
services: Preliminary project

The intention is to create a project of a linear five floor residential building, with a gross floor area of approximately 5,000 square meters, having the indicated orientation and located in a suburban area of Milan.
The building looks like a modern caravel which has reached the shores of Milan in order to better grasp its “genius”, producing no impact on the environmental and energy balance, where vital and social functions are expressed in unison inside of a lively, bright shell, designated for multiethnic and “extended” typology inhabitants.

Above piloties the structure of the building represents five residential “bridges” which look outwards with large deck and bioclimatic greenhouses. The alternation of planimetric profile, the continuous presence on the three sides of the building of balconies and loggias, the inclusion of bioclimatic greenhouses and shading elements, comprising vegetal ones, create a variable geometric and chromatic pattern which depends on climatic and seasonal conditions, contributing to the creation of an ever-changing and lively image of the building. On the roof “bridge”, at the sun, some common functions are located in order to “cultivate” and share hobbies; the greenhouses with private gardens are properly equipped to ensure the production of vegetables and fruits throughout the year. The attention to the “extended” typology of the inhabitants implies the anthropometric management of the designed spaces, giving a strong emphasis to the concept of imprinting, and therefore the possibility to modify and personalize the interior, and the shell according to one’s own lifestyle. The building is a kind of a “cell” capable of moulding and aggregating itself depending on the specific environmental conditions it is located in. That ‘s how it expresses its belonging to the territory, its being Milanese both in terms of performance and of the “genius” by drawing its shapes, colors and style from the patterns of the indigenous culture.