PROJECT

Architecture

CO.38bis

 

  • International Architectural Design Competition.
  • Program: Housing.
  • Site: Milan, Italy.
  • Surface: Built Area 3.300 m2.
  • Budget: –
  • Client: Municipality of Milan.
  • With: Studio Archea project-leader.
  • Chronology: 2006.

 

The project for the residential nucleus in Corso Como in Milan is inspired by the traditional Milanese “ringhiera” house (where the apartments are accessed from external balconies) as paradigm of collective and community living.

The systems of connection and distribution, such as the stairs and the balconies, outline the structural skeleton of the residential complex, at the same time regulating the aggregative logics, people’s movements and the way they appropriate their domestic space and the social one. The nuclei are “mobile” in the sense that they may be connected to the lines of the utility system in different points, thus forming semi-private spaces around them.

The organizational logic of the residential spaces therefore reflects a principle where some areas of the architectural organism are shared by the inhabitants, in such a way that the use of the domestic environments is articulated as a function of the social habits of each inhabitant: the domestic space can be expanded or contracted, occupying larger or smaller communal areas within the residential complex. Each dweller may choose the degree of privacy or social interaction he or she prefers to give his or her dwelling, personalizing it from time to time, with the changing seasons or in the course of a single day.

A project as articulated as the residential complex in Corso Como requires, both during the design phase and the actual construction, specific and complementary expertise in the sectors of project management, integrated design and the organization and coordination of services characterized by a highly interdisciplinary approach.