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R. Neri and T. Monestiroli
promote the development of this area rather than of others, in a context that can only
be considered at the territorial scale?
The city administration’s decision to consolidate the central core of Milan by
developing great building volumes necessarily implies that the new district is adequately connected with the road and public transportation—both road and railwaybased—networks, and that these are reviewed and adequately upgraded. In other
words, for the new development to become a part of the city, it must be accessible
and well connected to the urban and territorial system.
A second important issue that should be considered to prevent the area from
becoming a suburb within the city revolves around the activities it will accommodate,
which should be different, mixed and above all include urban interest facilities that
might contribute to it becoming a new centre open to the city, and would make the
site recognizable and the district an identifiable part of the city. The multiplicity
of activities reflects the richness and diversity of collective and private spaces. The
mission of architecture is to interpret such richness and to create places that convey
character and quality.
Starting from such considerations, we have approached the issue of design in order
to define several elements including the composition principles that would support
the construction of a both coherent and articulated new city sector; the basic housing
units and their building types, as different from the old city blocks; the collective
places and their character, the connections between buildings and open spaces, the
role of green spaces, the relation between facilities and housing, between commercial
facilities and other programs.
The tracks and the railroad yard cut through and separated entire sectors of the
city which have grown independently and created an interruption in the rings of the
Beruto Plan. The building blocks developed from Corso Sempione had to stop against
the railway; the so-called Isola district, developed at the east around the old road to
Como, had also to be interrupted; other outer districts were developed around the old
cores of Dergano, Affori, and Bovisa in the northern direction along the railway and
the lines that connect Milan to other destinations. Since the early twentieth century,
the city has grown beyond the railway and its continuing role of separating void.
The order and location of the settlement are decided by the railway, the main
line connecting Milan to its surroundings. An expressway also runs alongside the
tracks and given its interurban character, only has one point of access in the district,
a non-pass-through rest area close to the business centre.
The system of road infrastructure is defined by a hierarchical principle, the goal of
which is to give coherence to the settlement. The urban and interurban road network
runs along the outer borders with two expressways—one alongside the tracks and the
other straddling the tracks to unite via Caracciolo and via Lancetti. A new urban road
connects the blocks to the south, along the border of the park; the existing perimeter
roads define the area and connect it to the neighbouring districts; finally, the inner
roads, of different capacity and role, define a regular grid made of 140 metres green
squares within which the buildings are located.
R. Neri and T. Monestiroli
promote the development of this area rather than of others, in a context that can only
be considered at the territorial scale?
The city administration’s decision to consolidate the central core of Milan by
developing great building volumes necessarily implies that the new district is adequately connected with the road and public transportation—both road and railwaybased—networks, and that these are reviewed and adequately upgraded. In other
words, for the new development to become a part of the city, it must be accessible
and well connected to the urban and territorial system.
A second important issue that should be considered to prevent the area from
becoming a suburb within the city revolves around the activities it will accommodate,
which should be different, mixed and above all include urban interest facilities that
might contribute to it becoming a new centre open to the city, and would make the
site recognizable and the district an identifiable part of the city. The multiplicity
of activities reflects the richness and diversity of collective and private spaces. The
mission of architecture is to interpret such richness and to create places that convey
character and quality.
Starting from such considerations, we have approached the issue of design in order
to define several elements including the composition principles that would support
the construction of a both coherent and articulated new city sector; the basic housing
units and their building types, as different from the old city blocks; the collective
places and their character, the connections between buildings and open spaces, the
role of green spaces, the relation between facilities and housing, between commercial
facilities and other programs.
The tracks and the railroad yard cut through and separated entire sectors of the
city which have grown independently and created an interruption in the rings of the
Beruto Plan. The building blocks developed from Corso Sempione had to stop against
the railway; the so-called Isola district, developed at the east around the old road to
Como, had also to be interrupted; other outer districts were developed around the old
cores of Dergano, Affori, and Bovisa in the northern direction along the railway and
the lines that connect Milan to other destinations. Since the early twentieth century,
the city has grown beyond the railway and its continuing role of separating void.
The order and location of the settlement are decided by the railway, the main
line connecting Milan to its surroundings. An expressway also runs alongside the
tracks and given its interurban character, only has one point of access in the district,
a non-pass-through rest area close to the business centre.
The system of road infrastructure is defined by a hierarchical principle, the goal of
which is to give coherence to the settlement. The urban and interurban road network
runs along the outer borders with two expressways—one alongside the tracks and the
other straddling the tracks to unite via Caracciolo and via Lancetti. A new urban road
connects the blocks to the south, along the border of the park; the existing perimeter
roads define the area and connect it to the neighbouring districts; finally, the inner
roads, of different capacity and role, define a regular grid made of 140 metres green
squares within which the buildings are located.