The Floating Gate : Architecture Master Degree Thesis

Abstract

by Fernando J. Buraggi and Danyal Zarepourmoghaddam

Aimed at strengthening the urban transformation taking place in the Porta Nuova district, the thesis addresses the international design competition for Pirelli 39 launched by COIMA.

Pirelli 39 nowadays

Photo by Thomas Paganini

Pirelli 35 Competition site has been also involved to frame the new intervention within a wider urban design proposition: a new urban structure characterized by “suspended volumes” generate a system of public spaces on various levels across the new complex, from the city ground to panoramic sky-terraces. The strong potential of the area required its complete urban redevelopment and the repositioning of the existing buildings, as well as direct relations with the planned future interventions, such as towers "Gioia 20”, and the reopening project of the Naviglio Martesana. Through two squares, located at the same level as the Naviglio Boulevard, two assertive architectures - a high-rise and a low-rise building- are grafted into the site to form a new entrance to Porta Nuova, facing the “Gioia 20” twin buildings.

Standing on the edge of the “Library of the Trees” Park, the “horizontal” volume delimits it by opening a large lowered square towards Via Bordoni and Via Pirelli with the aim of mending up the undeveloped parts of the neighbourhood. Iconic and incisive, the tower rises on the corner of the Park, developing new public spaces at high altitude. The new open spaces disclose a hierarchical organization of functions according to their accessibility to the public, characterizing the low-rise building as a volume completely “open” to the city, and allowing for progressive privatization on the powerful vertical volume.

Both buildings exploit a structural steel structure with prefabricated elements technology that enhances the concept of suspension also along the vertical development of the tower. The internal skeleton, occasionally revealed to emphasize its structural effectiveness, also gives a visually industrial character to the buildings. The envelope is completed by a highly performing modular curtain wall, on which shading systems are set up to distinguish each of the two volumes. The horizontal volume is wrapped in a perforated corrugated sheet, which reveals the strong reticular structure; while the tower is characterized by vertical aluminium brise-soleils that mark the rhythm of the facade, communicating the progressive internal privatization.

The result is a “bilateral” architectural proposal based on structural experimentation, which creates a new “gate” for the neighbourhood and synthesize a more inclusive urban scenario available to all social strata.