Valle Architetti Associati Piazza Gino Valle Portello Milan

The key features of the urban plan for conversion of the former Alfa Romeo and Lancia industrial sites in Milan’s Portello district were planned by architect Gino Valle and had been initially approved as an Integrated Project Plan in 2003, when the architect died. The development and variants of the project were then handled by architects Pietro Valle and Piera Ricci Menichetti, who designed two of the most important parts of the project, including the plaza and the office buildings. The key to the urban development plan, the plaza was completed in for the inauguration of Expo 2015, and the City of Milan named it after Gino Valle as proposed by Valle Architetti Associati.

The plaza has a fan layout and is built on a slope. It is not just a pavement to walk on but a stratified base with a number of different functions on three levels (parking, service areas, commercial spaces, a restaurant and, of course, the entrances to the office buildings), pierced by open-air courtyards that let natural light through to illuminate the premises below. The three office buildings have different heights and a diagonal profile formed by the tympanum of the building designed by architect Mario Bellini. Defined as three “urban mountains”, the three volumes mark the profile of the whole Portello district.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Valle Architetti Associati
Location: Milan - Italy

Photos by Hanns Joostens (courtesy of Topotek 1)
Photos by Giuseppe Dall'Arche (courtesy of Valle Architetti Associati)
Aerial photos by fotoaeree.it

http://www.architettivalle.net/

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