Klaudia Chara
THE AFFILIATION BETWEEN SOCIETY AND NATURE IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: BIOPHILIC DESIGN IN THE CITYLIFE COMPLEX
Extracts from Asia Ciccarelli, The Affiliation Between Society and Nature in the Built Environment: Biophilic Design in the Citylife Complex
Dissertation Studio 14 Rewilding Tutor: Gabriele Oropallo
School of Art, Architecture and Design London Metropolitan University 2021
CHAPTER TWO: THE CITYLIFE COMPLEX CASE STUDY BACKGROUND Located in the historic Fiera di Milano neighbourhood in Italy, the CityLife district is a large-scale redevelopment project carried out by the Generali Group. With an area of 36.6 hectares, this contemporary residential, commercial, and business district consists of one of the largest pedestrian areas in Europe (Libeskind Studio, 2021; Architects, 2020). In addition to being valuable to the community, the project has a significant importance for the rest of Europe. As the leading architects on the project explain: ‘Milan is the city that best represents the international face of Italy, comparable to London, Frankfurt and Paris. In this sense, for us, designing in Milan brings us into contact with the most modern face of Italy.’ Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid. The project began in 2004 and is expected completion between 2020 and 2023, consists of 3 high-raise buildings of distinct character arranged to create an imposing public square. The site is surrounded by green space and encompasses a residential complex, a shopping district and a nursery (CityLife, 2019; Libeskind Studio, 2021). Figure 3 shows a map of the CityLife complex highlighting the different zones of the site. The project is being viewed to have a ‘high level of architectural and environmental quality’ as it incorporates alternative energy systems with installations primarily using ground water, district heating, and photovoltaic panels. This is reflected by the ‘Tre Torri’ (three towers) offices already being awarded the GOLD level LEEDTM pre-certification (Libeskind Studio, 2021). This dissertation is based on the CityLife complex as a case study. It is a recent largescale development that has already attracted attention and importance for the city and community. The site is considered the largest, latest redevelopment in Italy, promoting sustainable materials and an innovative eco-friendly design. This design approach suggests the presence of biophilic design principles within the design of the complex.
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CONSIDERATION OF PREFERABLE SPACES FOR ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION The CityLife complex is composed of numerous indoor and outdoor spaces. The predominant exterior space, the park, covers a large area and includes exercise spaces, children’s playgrounds, and a garden area. Moreover, other outdoor spaces which can be of interest for this discussion include the two-level public square and the exterior of the residences and towers (as they can be viewed from the park). Additionally, the site is composed of public interior spaces such as the shopping district and a nursery. Figure 3 highlights the areas within the project’s masterplan. The CityLife park consists of 170,000 meter squared with over 1,500 trees (Browman, 2019). The green space includes both walking and cycle paths and places to play, exercise and reconnect with nature. The design aims to reflect a diverse landscape by creating different levels which mimic the mountains and plains present across the landscape of northern Italy. The south entrance of the park retains the historic ‘fontana delle quattro stagioni’ (fountain of the four seasons) whereas further north, a new water feature can be admired. The park offers a wonderful view of the surrounding buildings, including the Hadid and Liberskind residences as well as Isozaki’s tower 'il Dritto' (the straight), Hadid’s tower 'lo Storto' (the bent) and Libeskind’s tower 'Il Curvo'(the curved) (Libeskind Studio, 2021). In the centre of the 3 towers lies a public square. Designed by One Works, the double story plaza acts as a junction linking the northern and southern parts of the park. The court provides an outdoor commercial experience as well as a hub for outdoor activities. The CityLife Shopping District enables to continue the commercial experience indoors. This commercial building realised by Zaha Hadid is the largest urban shopping centre in Italy with a surface area of 32 thousand meters squared. It contains around 100 shops, including cafés, restaurants, clothing, and jewellery shops (Architects, 2020). The most innovative area of the complex, however, is possibly the nursery. The competition for designing this space was aimed at architects aged under 35. This led to a new concept of a nursery which is exclusively built of wood and with zero emissions (Libeskind Studio, 2021).
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The project’s strong focus on the community draws the scope of the discussion and analysis of this reflective piece to focus on the public interior and exterior spaces highlighted in this section. Although the debate is based on the success and extent of the biophilic design attributes implemented within the CityLife complex, examples of other public spaces will be discussed to offer ground for comparison.
Figure 1: Libeskind studio masterplan showing the different buildings which make up the site (2021)
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CONCLUSION Biophilic design attributes are present to some extent in the public areas of the CityLife complex. As the checklist shows, the characteristics of biophilic design observed in the complex can be said to be of varying success based on the examples. The photographs reveal that the City life’s design shows a significant presence of direct visual connection with nature. This approach is present to a great extent in the large park area, particularly in the garden space where there is a high level of species richness. In addition, the design shows the extensive presence of elements of prospect. This was successfully achieved by large window openings and different levels, which allow to look down multiple floors. Furthermore, the complex achieves an indirect connection with nature through shapes and form. This is principally present in the shopping district which offers a unique wooden design which recalls nature. When contemplated in the overall context, these elements enable the users of the public spaces to feel connected with nature, thus gaining from the benefit of society and nature interactions. However, this analysis revealed the lack of many attributes, which could have been included in various ways as discussed using the examples. This leaves us to wonder how the CityLife could have been if the designers had further applied biophilic design principles as an extension to sustainable design. Could a more extensive application of the attributes have created a space more suited for prompting wellbeing by further drawing upon the affiliation between society and nature in the built environment?
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School of Art, Architecture and Design London Metropolitan University 2021 liveness.org.uk