THE-PRISONER

Thematic Design Studio - 2021

Cucine Popolare+Hostel

Tutor: Giancarlo Floridi

Academic Project - Collaborative Milan, Italy

In the intersection of via Giovanni Battista Sammartini and Raffaele Parravicini there exist the plot number 6. The site is adjacent to the elevated railway and it is facing the tunnels passing through the railway which is characterizing the district in a dominant way.

The old, abandoned factory in front of the building and the bridge spanning via Giovanni Battista Sammartini altogether create an industrial cityscape.

The plot is occupied with 2 volumes: a L-shaped roofless building and a 2 story volume with square base. The significant feature of the site is the existing wall wrapping the building and continue to cover the whole urban plot. The wall morphologically corresponds with the surrounding and it is in the same height with the railway. The connection of the buildings with the wall is tight and they seem to be covered with it instead of using it as an exterior facade.

In this project the building is dealing with the city in a delicate manner. By considering the urban morphology the existing roofless volume in the plot is converted to urban void. In doing so the proposed volume in the project is set back bearing the same width of the prior volume. It is indeed forming an embraced interior garden coming out of the urban morphology. The volume is consisted of 5 volumes stacked in stepped way. The ground floor is covered with the openings derived from the existing windows on the wall and they are creating a visual connection between the front yard and the back yard. The traces in the project overlooking to the urban void in the back side of the plot create a gradient in height to both correspond to the adjacent apartments and the railway.