De Castillia 23 receives the CTBUH 2022 Award of Excellence

The international conference on "Tall Excellence: Seeking the Ideal in Vertical Urbanism" organised and promoted every year by the American research institute CTBUH - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat to offer professionals in the field an opportunity to discuss and be updated on projects for tall buildings and concepts of "sustainable vertical urban planning” took place November 9 through 12 in Chicago. The conference concluded with announcement of the winners in each category of the "Best Tall Building Award of Excellence", annual prizes with which the CTBUH promotes constructions built on the basis of criteria of excellence, innovation, and sustainability, assessed in terms of both individual aspects of design and as a whole, beginning with their relationship with the urban scale and the environment around them. The 2022 Award of Excellence in the “Best Tall Building under 100 metres”category was awarded to the De Castillia 23 complex redeveloped by Progetto CMR.

Progetto CRM redeveloped an incomplete abandoned old building that had been purchased by the Unipol Group in Milan’s Isola district. The transformation added to the functions of the complex, which consists of two volumes measuring 53 and 15 metres high, to improve their energy performance and overall efficiency. Progetto CMR also revolutionised the look of the complex, with changes that are obvious from the outside thanks to a new prismatic façade. This is the key element of the project: a skin that changes at different times of day and with the cycle of the seasons, creating constantly changing light effects with its triangular panes of glass arranged to form rhomboids forming a dynamic, living façade.
To meet the project’s requirements in terms of both performance and aesthetic quality, the architects chose Active Surfaces® eco-active porcelain by Fiandre Architectural Surfaces. They selected the Core Shade with the Cloudy Core Active and Sharp Core Active finishes to produce a pale background that would reflect light, combined with a darker contrasting colour.
The slabs were applied using the Granitech® ventilated façade system with visible connections, capable of guaranteeing optimal performance in terms of durability and energy efficiency for tall buildings such as De Castillia 23. Use of porcelain to cover the façades and the pavement of outdoor areas combines aesthetic qualities and advanced technical performance with another essential benefit for users of the building and the entire neighbourhood: a natural material produced in zero-emissions plants, Active Surfaces® ceramic offers important antibacterial, antiviral, anti-pollutant and anti-odour properties. More than 16 thousand square metres of Active slabs have been installed in the project, and on the basis of studies conducted by the Chemistry Department of Milan University, they will compensate the equivalent of 59 kg of nitrogen oxide per year, as much as 200,000 square metres of greenery, making the complex a “smog-eating” building.

Images courtesy of Iris Ceramica Group

Project Name: De Castillia 23
Location: Milano, Italy
Architects: Progetto CMR

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