10 BEST CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURES IN MILAN
Selected by Derriereitalia
“Milan l’è semper Milan”, as we say in “Milanese” slang! Milano is a city that travels at a totally different speed compared to other Italian cities, is definitely European with its trendy shops, cool clubs and super events like fashion week and the show of the Furniture. But it is also a city that has been able to regenerate from an architectural point of view and today, we at Derriereitalia would like to recommend the 10 buildings of contemporary architecture that an urban traveller must absolutely see.
Are you ready? Do you have your Derriereitalia backpack on your shoulder? Let’s start this journey:
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1 – Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation
Herzog & De Meuron are among our favorite architects in Milan who have been able to create a unique building, about 200 meters, with reinforced concrete portals, recalling the stereotypical shape of the house, with a sloping roof that houses a public library.
The building of the Foundation, from an urban point of view, is designed for all the citizens of Milan and is part of an area with large public green spaces, boulevards and cycle paths.
Address: Viale Pasubio, 5 – Milan
Project: Herzog & De Meuron
Year: 2016
2 – Bocconi University
Behind the brand Grafton Architects there are two female architects Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell, in 2002 they won the competition for the extension of the Bocconi University in Milan. An imposing building covered in stone that extends along viale Bligny, partly suspended and partly underground. The underground housing is considered an erupting landscape that offers support to the light filters inhabited above in continuity between the “landscape” of the city and the “made landscape”.
Come in and pay a visit, the view of the stairs is very impressive.
Address: corner between viale Bligny, 5 and via Guglielmö Röntgen, 2- Milan
Project: Grafton Architects
Year: 2008
3 – Bosco verticale
While Stefano Boeri was in Dubai, the city of glass/ ceramics/metal, he had the idea of a building covered with plants, it was born so the project of the Vertical Forest is a model of sustainable building that consists of two towers of 37 and 19 floors, hosting about 900 trees and over 20,000 plants able to mitigate noise pollution, producing oxygen, protecting from solar radiation. The characteristic of the building is to conceive the vegetation and the living nature as constituting elements – and not just ornamental ones – of the architecture. The complex is considered one of the most beautiful skyscrapers in the world so much that the designers, the Boeri Studio has built towers similar to Nanjing, Utrecht, Tirana, Lausanne, Paris.
Address: via Gaetano de Castillia, 12
Project: Boeri Studio
Year: 2014
4 – City Life
And ‘the most chatted area of Milan since Fedez and Chiara Ferragni have bought their super penthouse, as well as the most expensive the average price of a property is about 9,500 euros/sqm.
But CityLife, for those who love architecture as Derriereitalia, is one of the most important urban redevelopment projects in Italy in recent years.
Around the three Isozaiki – Hadid and Libeskind towers, there is the Shopping District, a shopping arcade in which shops and restaurants overlook the third urban park in Milan.
Address: Piazza tre torri – Milan
Year: 2014 – in progress
5 – Isozaki Tower
Nicknamed the obverse, for its linear shape that stands out towards the sky this glass skyscraper is 50 floors high and laying on two side concrete columns that guarantee stability, each floor is the same as the others: 22 meters wide for about 60 of length. Four gold-lined struts rest on the base to act as a pivot.
A building homage to Milanese futurism, as pointed out by architect Andrea Maffei who signed the project with the architect Arata Isozaki.
Address: Piazza tre torri – Milan
Project: Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei
Year: 2015
6 – Hadid Tower
This twisted tower, nicknamed Lo Storto it was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects
This curvilinear represents the forces of the three axes of the city. Milan Skyline – Two of the Twist, the topmost floors.
This curved tower, dubbed Lo Storto, was designed by Zaha Hadid Architects
This curvilinear body represents the forces of the three city axes converging at its base. Due to the torsion, the higher floors are oriented to have a great view of Milan Skyline.
Address: Piazza tre torri – Milan
Project: Zaha Hadid Architects
Year: 2017
7 – Prada Foundation
The “new” designed by Rem Koolhaas’ OMA studio, and the old one, a 1910 distillery that interacts in a complex building that houses the Foundation whose mission is the promotion of contemporary art.
The project fuses seven existing buildings and three new structures: the Museum an exhibition space for temporary exhibitions, the Cinema a multimedia auditorium and the ten-story tower with a permanent exhibition space recently opened with a rooftop bar. This 60-meter building develops on half floors on a trapezoidal base while the remaining part on a rectangular plan with a height of 2.70 meters and 8 meters on the last floor. The concrete façade is broken by large windows that illuminate the rooms in an ever-changing way.
Address: Largo Isarco, 2 – Milan
Project: OMA – Milan
Year: 2015 – 2018
8 – condominium Salaino 10
Until now we have only presented public buildings or related to the tertiary sector, but the Derriereitalia team is fond of this project by Citterio and Viel. A residence that is articulated with patios and hanging gardens.
The main body consists of nine floors and is aligned in height with the surrounding buildings. The double-skin façade has a discontinuous surface of silk-screened bronze-gilded glass panels that protect the lodges in an elegant way while a continuous gallery on the entire perimeter of the building accentuates the layered composition of the building.
Address: via Antonio Salaino, 10 – Milan
Project: Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners
Year: 2011
9 – Residential buildings – New Portello
Il Portello is the area once occupied by factories. Alfa Romeo now houses a new district designed by Studio Valle with the involvement of other important Italian studios. Among the most important buildings stand the residential towers of Cino Zucchi.
The two towers assimilate the characters of the Milanese construction of the post-war period, re-reading them in a contemporary key. The use of decolored terracotta tile and white ceramic, windows of different shapes and sizes and the deep loggias with steel and glass railings articulate the facades and offer new views and perspectives on the city.
Address: Largo Marco Zanuso – Milan
Project: Cino Zucchi Architetti;
Year: 2002-2008
10 – Mac 5 – 6 – 7
The German architects Matthias Sauerbruch and Louise Hutton designed the three buildings and the master plan of this large urban area of Milan.
The highest volume has an H-shaped layout and occupies the corner between via Imbonati and via Bracco. The two wings are connected by a large entrance foyer with a monumental helical staircase.
A third volume aligns with the buildings via Imbonati with a large glazed curtain.
The colored façade makes the Mac buildings unique, the panels used for the curtain walls are screen printed with 35 shades of colors in the shades, the green-blue and the white-grey, creating an irregular but carefully studied mosaic. Only the ground attack and the entrance hall are an exception.
Address: via Carlo Imbonati corner via Roberto Bacco – Milan
Project: Sauerbruch Hutton;
Year: 2008-2010
