Garibaldi Complex – Porta Nuova is one of the largest redevelopment projects in Europe in the last ten years. Through the recomposition of the three Garibaldi districts, Varesine and Isola, it covers a total area of over 290,000 m² and represents a perfect combination of city identity and European vision. The project includes a continuous pedestrian system, characterized by green areas, squares, bridges and a large park that guarantees a safe and easy connection between the different districts. The area joins the existing cultural, institutional and commercial fabric through Corso Como and Via Turati, reconnecting with the historical shopping and design streets. This site becomes an international hub in the great system of ski, cultural and economic exchanges.
The design of Porta Nuova was born from the connection of the three master plans, developed respectively by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects and Boeri Studio. The area delimited by Via Melchiorre Gioia, Amerigo Vespucci, Galileo Galilei, Viale della Liberazione, after many years of abandonment, is the object of an overall urban transformation: squares, gardens, public and private parking lots, cycle paths, buildings, towers, for residential, commercial, exhibition, cultural, hotel, private offices, public, administrative, areas of general interest, common services. Both public and private roads are underground, with the creation of new underground and railway lines. Great attention is given to materials (recycled and recyclable raw materials), to the quality of the indoor environment and to lighting. Each area is characterized by a lighting system designed in accordance with the urban layout, the buildings, the functions. The area is divided into three zones:
1) Garibaldi – Varesine – Isola. The Porta Nuova Garibaldi area, served by a large pedestrian street (vehicular traffic flows underground) is a visual telescope that closes with the Piazza Circolare, a large fountain and the Pelli skyscraper. The architecture itself is used as a lighting system: the buildings, the canopies, the details, the accesses between one building and another become diffusers of light in the absence of visual obstacles, luminaires on poles to interrupt the great perspective that opens towards the Piazza and the central water mirror. The project received the GOLD LEED.
2) The Porta Nuova Varesine area hosts the projects of several architectural firms. The heterogeneity sought and achieved in the design of public spaces gives a leading role to the lighting “binder of the city system”. The choice was made to use the traditional and well recognizable pole lighting system. The luminous handrails constitute a second continuous and unitary system.
3) The Porta Nuova Isola area houses an office building, large public spaces dedicated to greenery and residential buildings, including the “Novetredici” residential complex designed by Cino Zucchi (Architect also of the Portello District residential complex). A lighting system is installed with pole mounted luminaires and luminaires integrated in the balconies of the buildings for condominium lighting.
Currently under construction the Unipol Group’s management centre, the UnipolSai tower, designed by Architect Mario Cucinella, with whom Piero Castiglioni and Marco Petrucci collaborated at the Rovati Foundation in Milan.
Project:
Lighting Design Piero Castiglioni
Collaborations:
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Cino Zucchi Architetti
Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects
Boeri Studio
Photo Courtesy:
Andrea Martiradonna
Year:
2013
