ARW Associates - Botticini + Facchinelli

The central park of Cascina Merlata constitutes an element of particular landscape characterisation, a project that will be completed at the same time as the vegetation and delimited by the planned building components.

The architectural design is based on a competition proposal, developed by ARW studio together with architect Annalisa Mauri, that enhances living in relation to the urban connotation of the area, with a scheme that defines an interpretation of the courtyard layout open to the outside, with heterogeneous components and a deliberately chosen complexity.

There are two fundamental characteristics of the complex: all the dwellings relate to the horizon that opens onto the park because there are no elements that close off the view and, at the same time, the fold conceived at the corner of Via Pasolini generates a widening in continuity with the route out of the park, diagonally from South Uptown.

The flats on Via Pasolini are not pressed into a sharp corner, thus eliminating a possible excessive introspection between the flats.

In addition to offering formal continuity on the external front, the new structure defines a large opening towards the square, where the portal, with its three levels of height, is an important element in enhancing the continuity between the courtyard, the surrounding urban context and the park. To the north on Via Pasolini, the complex’s second entrance to the north on Via Pasolini, defines an effective contamination between the spaces, without preventing closure during the evening hours.

The choice of positioning the car park on three underground levels gives a better living quality, integrating the courtyard with the existing park.

The volumetric layout, based on an “open hand” system, is six storeys high and ends with two vertical elements at the two vertices: a 26-storey, 88 m tower on the north side and an 18-storey, 62 m tower on the south side.

The colour scheme of the building also establishes a relationship with the buildings facing it, and the cladding of terracotta strips on the insulation systems, together with the loggias lined with marine plywood, open up a composition in balance between the informal and the formal, bringing out the Milanese, the historic and the contemporary.