TILTED TOWER OF MILAN
ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO a.y. 2023/24
PROF. CINO ZUCCHI
BUILT ENVIRONMENT INTERIORS
POLITECNICO DI MILANO
The Design of this High-rise building revolves around addressing three main inquiries. How to integrate the seemingly “out of context” structure with its peers of the surrounding buildings to enrich the urban fabric even more rather than disrupt it. Outdoor spaces, public and private, and how a public space can be integrated within a predominantly private context. How to utilize the plot location overlooking the vast landscape of the Parco Sempione while optimizing the user experience in his/er private unit.
The high-rise structure can be seamlessly integrated with the urban fabric of Milan by adhering to certain unwritten rules. Such as Maintaining familiarity, to a certain extent, for the users of the urban space by maintaining the old trees at both ends of the plot, the dog park, and the small hill at the southern end. These elements remain unchanged to retain the pedestrian perception at first glance when approaching from the surrounding streets. By incorporating a private outdoor space, in the absence of surrounding structures to shelter its privacy, with minimal use of disrupting elements such as fences. By creating public outdoor spaces extended from the existing ones. By Elevating the structure bulk to give breathing room for the users of the outdoor spaces on the ground. And by locating a part of the structure in the only space with no facing neighbors to try to minimize the disruption. In addition, the building’s tilted part differs from the urban fabric’s grid yet provides a better solution for the shadow casted on the neighboring buildings and intrigues the approaching pedestrian. Also, its facade with its two containing walls with the same color as the exposed cores gives a sense of verticality and complements the green landscape of Parco Sempione.
The outdoor spaces are divided into three parts. A public space at the northern end featuring a curved pathway with a central water feature from the points where pedestrians are more likely to approach. Leading to the commercial spaces (a coffee shop and a bakery) while forming green spaces within its curvature. The drop-off space at the center of the plot and it is the main approach to the building. And a private space at the southern end of the plot buried in a small hill, creates a small courtyard within and features recreational activities for the tenants such as a pool, GYM, Sauna, and restaurant. It is designed in a manner that isolates the users from their surroundings and makes the outdoor pedestrian unaware of its existence.
To capitalize on the vast landscape of the Parco Sempione and ensure an unobstructed wide view of its beauty for all units the structure is formulated in the shape of an elongated bent rectangle divided into two identical wings with two dominant cores at the center of each wing. This design not only maximizes views on at least two opposing sides of the building but also imparts the sensation of having a unit in the sky overlooking Parco Sempione without disruption from either the surroundings or the structure itself.
