A former meat market area in Milan will be redeveloped, giving life to the largest social housing project in Europe and will host the new IED International Campus.
09/09/2021 MILAN, IT TSX, NYSE:STN
There is a new lively district, young and teeming with activity coming to Milan, Italy thanks to the new international campus of the IED (European Institute of Design). The scientific museum district will be dedicated to the dissemination of technologies and include a system of spaces open to the whole city, with affordable homes (under 2,500 euros per square meter) for 1,200 families and hundreds of students. This is the future of the former meat market area according to ARIA, the winning project of the second edition of Reinventing Cities, the international call for proposals launched by the city together with C40, which provides for the establishment of the surface right of sites to be used for sustainable urban regeneration projects.
The project proposal was submitted by Redo Sgr with Deltaecopolis, CCL, IED Istituto Europeo di Design, CA Ventures and E.On. The project was designed by Snøhetta Oslo, Barreca & La Varra, Stantec, CZA Cino Zucchi Architetti for the IED campus, Chapman Taylor , Mpartner, Social Housing Foundation, Politecnico di Milano Foundation, prof. Marco Filippi, Deloitte, Planet Smart Cities, MIC Mobility-in-Chain, PNAT, GaiaGo, LifeGate, Cresme Ricerche, LAMA development & cooperation, Don Gino Rigoldi Foundation, Amici di Edoardo, ènostra, Edoardo Tresoldi, The Fab Lab, Festival della Science, Eatour, Electreon, Urban Cultural Sea, Urban Fields.
Stantec's roles in the project include:
“The recovery project of the former meat market area demonstrates how Milan can regenerate itself starting from its history, with projects capable of combining the past and future, architectural quality and sustainability,” said Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala. “From an abandoned market, a cultural center of excellence will be born, with quality construction at affordable prices, greenery, and services. Reinventing Cities was born together with C40 precisely with this objective: to mend pieces of the city in an innovative perspective, in compliance with very high environmental standards, bringing widespread benefits to the territory thanks to a close synergy between public and private. Sustainability, international projection, and inclusiveness: this is the way to continue to make Milan grow and make it walk together with the great cities of the world.”
"This project recovers valuable buildings that have long been unused, returning them to the city, creating a new neighborhood with accessible homes for all, and will allow the expansion of an internationally important reality such as the IED,” said city planning councilor Pierfrancesco Maran. “There are more and more cultural institutions that bet on less central areas of the city, from the Brera Academy, which will open in Farini, to the Conservatory in Rogoredo, from Scala to Rubattino to Politecnico alla Bovisa. It is a clear sign of how many neighborhoods, through the care of public space, are developing a new attractiveness, which will be further strengthened with the establishment of places linked to culture.”
“The transformation of the former meat market is a flagship project for the green and flourishing urban future we want,” said Hélène Chartier, head of zero carbon development for C40. “Reinventing Cities has been a great success in Milan as well as in Oslo, Reykjavik, Paris, Madrid, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Montreal, Singapore, Auckland and more. I would like to thank all the participants in the call and congratulate the Municipality of Milan. When we started Reinventing Cities four years ago, Milan was the first city to come on board and since then it has been a great partner of C40 to shape and co-develop the initiative.”
"Being once again, for the third time in a short time, alongside REDO SGR, part of the winning team of Reinventing Cities, is a source of great pride for our company” said Emanuela Sturniolo, CEO of Stantec in Italy. "The philosophy behind this design proposal is perfectly in line with our motto ‘design with community in mind,’ that is to say putting the needs of the community and the territory first. And this is what our architects, our engineers, and our environmental experts do every day in their work. "
The site of the former meat market area extends for 15 hectares and is made up of two areas, currently separated by via Cesare Lombroso, formerly part of the citadel of the general markets. The ARIA masterplan includes not only the recovery and re-functionalization of the existing historic buildings, which will retain the current architectural elements and will have a predominant cultural vocation, but also the maintenance of four other unconstrained buildings. The recovery of the buildings, going beyond the requests of the Superintendency, will be functional both to the creation of a place based on recovery, and to the overall strategy of sustainability thanks to the reuse of over 30,000 m2 of built surface and the production of over 4,500 m3 of reinforced concrete equal to over 2 thousand tons of CO2 emitted.
The new IED headquarters will be built in the two large twin pavilions further north. The European Institute of Design, which operates internationally in the field of training and research in the disciplines of design, fashion, visual arts and communication, has chosen to unify its offices currently scattered throughout the city within the perimeter of the ex Macello, increasing its spaces with the aim of expanding the training offer and making it increasingly competitive worldwide. In addition to the two historic pavilions, the IED Campus will also include a newly constructed building on the northern edge.
Near the central pavilion, the so-called "Gallery", the Point of Disclosure (POD) Science & Art District will be born, a district for scientific production and dissemination designed with the aim of increasing scientific capital and enhancing STEM, which will host exhibitions, events, and workshops open to the city. At the POD Fab-Lab, which will be built in two existing neighboring buildings, courses will be organized for citizens to learn the operation and use of new digital technologies and software, how to repair small appliances, and responsible consumption. Other spaces will be occupied by the cultural activities of Mare Culturale Urbano and the Bottega delle Arti e dei Mestieri.
The residential part will develop mainly in the south and will host about 1,200 families with a mix of social housing (about 60 thousand square meters, of which 60 percent rented at an agreed rate and 40 percent in subsidized sale. Rents will range between 60 € / m2 and 115 € / m2 - equivalent to a monthly rent of 500 euros for a 75sqm three-room apartment - and a sales value of 2250 € / m2), a student residence with 600 beds and a small amount of free housing (about 7 thousand sqm). Proximity services will be established in the neighborhood, such as a medical center, the neighborhood concierge, a nursery school, a playroom, coworking spaces, offices, and businesses, with particular attention to the activation of the ground floors to make the neighborhood lively throughout the day. The new buildings will be located mainly along the edge of the area and will have characteristics of high sustainability, including green roofs, wooden and eco-cement buildings, the use of photovoltaic systems, and LEED Gold level certifications.
In the spaces of the former meat market area, approximately 45 thousand square meters of public spaces will be developed, with a system of squares, including a main one straddling via Lombroso joining the two areas, which will delimit the park of about 30 thousand square meters. About 2 thousand new trees will also be planted and a series of outdoor activities will be established, including social gardens, playgrounds, areas equipped for sports, areas dedicated to music, cinema, and an open-air theater.
ARIA expects to host a total of about 15,000 daily visitors between new residents (about 3 thousand) and city users, while also creating approximately 30,000 new jobs.
From the point of view of traffic, the masterplan imagines the redevelopment as a tree-lined boulevard in via Lombroso and envisions, in line with the provisions of the PGT, the creation of a connection between via Vismara and via Azzurri D'Italia. ARIA aims to become an integral part of the surrounding neighborhood, by re-sewing the cycle and pedestrian network and maximizing the potential for accessibility to the Porta Vittoria railway link stop and to the public transport stops along viale Molise. The project provides for the safety of the cycle network along via Lombroso and the extension of the network present on the north-south axis of viale Molise along the entire front of the development to reach all the pedestrian axes that lead to the inside of the site.
ARIA aims to be the first carbon negative area of the Municipality of Milan. With a view to shared sustainability, the project envisages community involvement through an enabling digital infrastructure that can allow the residents and businesses in the neighborhood to adopt intelligent behaviors and develop the capacity for resilience and responsiveness. In ARIA, future residents will be able to compare their consumption and have a clear view of the behavior that the individual user has on energy use, as well as understanding which actions may affect the amount of energy and water consumed and will be able to compare their performance the neighborhood average.
The regeneration of the former meat market area is part of the south-east quadrant of the city, the heart of substantial urban regeneration interventions. As part of the Porta Vittoria project, the public park is being built in continuity with the Formentano Park. In the Porta Romana airport, in dialogue with the regeneration planned on Piazza Trento as part of the project for the new A2A headquarters, a new sustainable district will be born which in 2026 will also host the Olympic Village. In Corvetto, piazza San Luigi and piazza Ferrara have recently been redeveloped and the final refurbishment works are in progress in piazza Angilberto II; while around via Sile, where several directions of the Municipality of Milan have recently found a home, redevelopment interventions are planned for the streets and public space.
Stantec has also been a part of other C40 winning teams, including INNESTO (Scalo Greco Breda) and Green Between – Tessiture Urbane (Crescenzago, Milano).
About Stantec
Communities are fundamental. Whether around the corner or across the globe, they provide a foundation, a sense of place and of belonging. That's why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind.
We care about the communities we serve—because they're our communities too. This allows us to assess what's needed and connect our expertise, to appreciate nuances and envision what's never been considered, to bring together diverse perspectives so we can collaborate toward a shared success.
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