The building subject of the intervention is located in the east of Milan, dates back to the 1930s and has an austere facade on the street, and an anonymous one on the rear courtyard, and on which the volume of an elevator has been added in recent years external.
The project is configured as a process of architectural and functional adaptation aimed at giving a better habitability to existing spaces, and accentuating the double character of the building as an exposed architecture, of the street – the compound front on via Melloni – but also a back architecture, more intimate, informal, open and habitable. Each floor (4 floors above ground plus a basement and the attic) measures approximately 180 square meters, except the ground floor recently expanded with the construction of a single-storey structure. The project foresees a different internal layout of the rooms and a variation of use destination that sees the residence replace a series of small offices distributed on the various floors.
![https://archello.com/story/124508/attachments/photos-videos/3 photo_credit Carola Merello](https://archello.com/thumbs/images/2023/05/30/barreca--amp--la-varra-residential-complex-in-via-melloni-15-apartments-archello.1685424757.519.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress)
The intervention is therefore divided into three parts: the conservative rehabilitation of the entire building from the basement to the third floor included, which provided for the structural reinforcement of the slabs, the building renovation that regards the out-of-shape SLP of the first, second, floors third and fourth, and finally the recovery of the attic for residential purposes on the fourth floor. The south-facing façade on the street was in fact crowned by the rear attic, and characterized by five false openings aligned with the pre-existing underlying windows on which a terrace overlooks. On the internal façade, the new lift column has been included in the building volume thanks to the extension to the various floors of the living spaces, also through loggias and balconies; a gray painted steel frame frames and unifies the elevation, while giving dynamism to this set of open-air rooms.
![https://archello.com/story/124508/attachments/photos-videos/4 photo_credit Carola Merello](https://archello.com/thumbs/images/2023/05/30/barreca--amp--la-varra-residential-complex-in-via-melloni-15-apartments-archello.1685424758.0929.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress)
Team:
Architect: Barreca & La Varra
Architectural design (schematic, final), artistic direction: BLV task
BLV team: Chiara Capponi, Valentina De Palo (project leaders)
Construction design and construction supervision: Studio Grazzi + Marciello
Client: Sevenbricks srl
Construction: Cospe
Photography: Carola Merello
Material Used:
Manufacturers: Castoldi Lighting