We design for the public good. We feel we have turned an affordable housing project into an action to defend public space, giving back to the community a fully public square, designed in physical and chromatic continuity with the towers. The plot borders the park of Cascina Merlata, the most extensive housing development in Europe.
Initially planned as a ‘gated community’, we have proposed to break the volume into two parts to give back the community public space, creating an ‘urban door’ between the Village and the Park. The new Piazza is an open and accessible space for all people, relating the different levels of the street and the park: a threshold between the built and the natural. We physically design a square in material and chromatic continuity with the two towers of affordable housing which house community spaces on the ground floor, such as a playground, a common room, a gym, and a laundry), to underline that sharing a communal space is a key point to strengthen the identity of the community.
The square is a fun, fully accessible, well-designed, and durable public space. The two towers (14 and 12 floor housing 103 apartments, each with its own parking underground) seem to have been generated from the same volume, split in two. The towers are clad in durable glass mosaic, recalling the Masters of Italian Architecture: Gio Ponti and Moretti. Each tile of the mosaic is not flat with the effect to reflect the light in always changing ways, activating the facades in relation to the sun, and the position of the spectator.
Usually used in interiors, this material gives a sense of intimacy and the idea that the city can be considered an 'urban interior' of the whole community. The volume is NZeB, with photovoltaic, water recuperation, and circularity of the materials. A participation project was held in collaboration with the Social Housing Foundation to design a colorful playground. The project was assigned the Italian Architect of the Year Award 2022 of the Italian Chamber of Architects.
