00_ReCoDe-poster

Re Co.De !

reshaping contemporary dwelling

Thematic Design Studio - BA Architectural Design - A.A. 2016/17 Proff. Massimo Bricocoli, Giovanni Hanninen, Gennaro Postiglione + Rodrigo Pemjean arch. Francesco Conti, Sofia Coutsoucos, Michele Ignaccolo, Maria Kapitonova, Salvatore Prina

“The real revolution in housing is indoors.”

STAR stragegies+architecture, 2017

Clara Barana Luca Borlenghi Elyzaveta Bratanchul Valentina Cattaneo Nicolò Clerici Valentina Cocco Beatrice Colombo Benedetta Conforti Saskia De Fabritiis Michela Di Viesti Anna Evangelisti Mariachiara Falco Matteo Fischi Carolina Flores Enrica Florido Matteo Franti Claudia Frassoni Margherita Furia Bonanomi Greta Gandossi Dalila Angela Giampietro Joanna Anna Gronostajska Andrea Guzzetti Christel Jarrouj Daniela Jarufe Nam Jun Kim Tatiana Knoroz Chung Fai Lam Aleksandra Litwora Yun-Yu Liu Lòpez Del Rocìo Rachele Mancuso Ulisse Martinelli Martina Milani Ilaria Mollica Orlando Naj Oleari Ekin Olcay Agnieszka Anna Omastka Tommaso Pacassoni Matej Paladin Valentina Pioltelli Francesca Rausa Michalina Aleksandra Rudol Emiliya Georgieva Stefanova Matteo Tagnocchetti Vittoria Toniato Vittorio Vaghi Artem Velychko Yan Di

DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA E STUDI URBANI

SCUOLA DI ARCHITETTURA URBANISTICA INGEGNERIA DELLE COSTRUZIONI

Re Co.De ! reshaping contemporary dwelling

During the 20th century the issue of dwelling in the city was mainly solved with the production of mass housing. At the turn of the 21st century this model shows patent signs of crisis. Not because of the obsolescence of the technical tools developed over time, but rather because of the fading away of its cultural premises, of the ideology that had shaped it, of the social project that defined its role and scope.

In order to design forms, uses and interiors of contemporary dwelling it is, therefore, necessary to shift from the functional concept of dwelling as an object to the cultural concept of dwelling as an experience.

It is the renewal, re-use and transformation of the existing housing stock that could come to the front-scene, in order to answer in a more proper way to quantitative and qualitative needs of contemporary living.

What type of dwellings? What forms and uses? For whom? How to provide dwellings to those who share their life in more then one city or need to be temporarily accommodated? What are their conditions and needs? How to provide the elderly with appropriate, assisted and affordable housing solutions? How to transform existing structures in order to respond to unmet needs?

New forms of dwelling and of contemporary living have been investigated and analised. 9 existing housing buildings in the city of Milano have been selected as case studies, redesigned and are now exhibited.

The social cases atlas The main topic of our design studio was the the qualitative reshaping of contemporary dwelling situations. The topic took shape from the consideration that, nowadays in the architectural panorama, there's a very wide/broad number of dwelling situations which don't have a correspondant typology in the stock market.

Therefore the work started with an individual research part, aiming at collecting and analyzing a series of existing nucleuses living in such conditions and composing an atlas of social cases.

Every student selected and surveyed a single case within people he/she was in acquaintance with, and by whom could get a decent quantity of information: their lifestyle, the space usage on a daily basis, the space conflicts between inhabitants and its qualities.

This initial research part took shape in an atlas of the social cases which represented our “clients” which had to be given a proper qualitative upgrade of their living spaces and represented a broad spectrum of social cases in terms of contemporary dwelling situations.

Vanvitelli housing estate The first case study has a long history starting backin 1926 and lasting over 90 years now. The project was the result of a new social and political plan taking over in the city of Milan and paving the way for a whole new era in low rent housing for proletarian working classes.

In 1908, following the application of the “Legge Luzzatti” which set a new first-place role in terms of economy for the housing and family care issues, the “Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari” (IACP) was founded in Milan, with the purpose of promoting, building and running public housing intended to accomodate lower classes through low rents.

The role of Giovanni Broglio was already important in Milan housing history, with a background as the architect of the Società Umanitaria, a Milanese welfare services institution which undertook the building of two working class housing neighborhoods designed by Broglio himself.

With the institution of IACP Broglio is named head engineer of the technical office, standing behind the building of a large part of public housing in Milan and, most importantly, upgrading significantly the architecture and dwelling solutions of the time, even given the economic and typological limits.

The neighborhood we took as a case study went through different changes through time: located in an area between the Città Studi district and the historical city walls, it shifted from a peripheral location to a completely integrated position, disguising itself in the compact city grid. But what mostly changed and shaped the neighborhood as we see it today is mainly the transformation of the Vanvitelli estate from a working class borough to a private building block in whose today’s users are the most diverse and hardly classifiable: you can find university students form the nearby Politecnico di Milano, as well as standard families with children, elder widows or single adults.

The typological research of Broglio in the two buildings we took as case study turned out to be very flexible in adapting to such changing circumstances: there is an upstream attention to the urban configuration, but at the same time an extreme focus on the quality of the environment, as the formal layout of the buildings permits a better ventilation and sun exposure. The limited size of the apartments is well played with double ventilation and higher ceilings and windows to better guarantee comfortable living conditions.

The other extremely contemporary aspect of the project is the duality of the formal approach by Broglio in the interior and exterior spaces: the exterior facade is well

composed and designed to formally emulate the urban fabric, to such an extent that these buildings don’t express their origins at all, origins which can be better seen in interior spaces details and their arrangement, marked by numerous openings and private spaces which melt into collective ones as an unicum. The presence of these collective spaces is, therefore, a tangible proof of the social aspect as a primary element of Broglio’s building process; it belongs to those times when the house flowed into the exterior and approached to the city, unlike today where we seem to experience the opposite case, as the city sneaks into the domestic landscape and deprives it of some fundamental intermediate collective spaces.

Over 100 years almost everything has changed between the inhabitants of yesterday and today. During this time also the space is lived differently. The tenor of the building itself led to a substantial change: from a working class neighborhood, it became a private apartment building. Our point was the following: how could just this not affect the life and nature of the building itself?

QT8: casa stellare and casa INCIS For the second case study we selected two building which are part of the QT8 neighborhood, an urban project born during the VIII Triennale edition in 1945 which had the housing as a core topic, following the recent homeless issue due to the heavy bombing of WWII. The project went through three main phases corresponding to the years of the next Triennale exhibitions and had in Piero Bottoni its director and creator.

The first proposal was designed by a group of professionals with Bottoni on request of the municipality of Milan, at that time going in Bottoni’s political direction: the funds were therefore totally public. The design program planned an integration between residential buildings, facilities and green areas: two typologies of buildings, tall collective houses and single-family houses, were placed along the borders while the core of the district hosted public venues and collective services such as commercial facilities, a post office, a movie theatre, agencies and banks.

In 1949, due to a change in the political situation, the Communist Party supported by Bottoni was dismissed and the architect was removed as special commissioner of the Triennale, leading to a drastically reduced control over the implementation of QT8. A key factor came up in the second phase of the project plan: due to the political swing, the project funding could no longer be a municipality-only burden; in this phase, and from now on, private companies started participating in the construction, often influencing the project outcome.

The third and final phase was designed by Bottoni and started in 1953, defining the final features that we see today: a series of tri-star-shaped residential units were placed among the northern border of the district (some of which, as we’ll see, were funded by cooperatives and private investors), and building blocks such as the casa INCIS in via Bertinoro were built for state employees.

A survey among the inhabitants showed that there are basically three types of people living in QT8: elderly people living there since 50 years, when the plan was under construction, middle-aged people who moved to Milan from other cities for work reasons and young people, often with children, who moved there because of the calm atmosphere and the enclosed, reassuring character of the neighborhood.

Casa Stellare from 1955-57 is one of the seven (then only five were built) “Case Stellari” designed in the third part of the plan and was commissioned to Bottoni by the Social Housing Real Estate Institute (IACP). The building has a typical plan in each wing, which is reflected in all the floors apart from the ground floor; the distributive scheme presents four apartments for each floor, located around a wide entrance hall, provided with two elevators and one staircase. These four units are divided into two single bedroom apartments, one double bedroom apartment and one triple bedroom apartment: the former are characterized by a row of windows on only two sides of the apartments, while the latter two have a wide living-dining room which occupies the whole width of the wing. The main collective serving area is located at the center of the building at the ground floor. adjacent to this area are placed some partly aerated and illuminated cellars for more private purposes.

Casa INCIS (Istituto Nazionale per le Case degli Impiegati Statali) is a linear building located near the south-east entrance of the district at the beginning of the central axis.

Placed along the helio-thermic axis, the building was designed with strong common and collective traits, coming from the inhabitants background.

The solution to guarantee this condition was found in the balcony, used as an element of both vertical and horizontal distribution. Another interesting feature is how the two facades are composed: the one facing the district and the Monte Stella is composed by loggias for the entrances while the one facing the city is more regular and characterized by gratings elements with small ceramic tiles designed by Bottoni himself.

The importance given to the common space was a common feature of all post-war projects, where the architects imagined taking place social and collective activities. However, the present situation shows that such function only existed in the mind of the architect, given that the spaces are now underused.

from a largely agricultural country into one of the world’s most dynamic industrial nations.

The change invested all sides of the lifestyle: a new distribution of leisure time, the maturation of a new social and political conscience, the change in sexual behavior and in social habits all contributed to the social revolution of the “boom economico” years.

In the Crocetta/Porta Romana neighborhood a lot of buildings got bombed during the war, leading to new interventions from the 1950s on. The growing of the city, metro connections and facilities made this particular part of the neighborhood attractive for the wealthy families.

The building of via Quadronno was imagined with a provocative approach to the existing urban plan: the new intervention had been imagined as a continuous garden, visually permeable and in an ideal continuity with the public green space that already existed on the margins of the lot designed by Mangiarotti and Morassutti. Following this idea, the facades were left to be covered in time entirely with Canadian grape plants.

The buildings stands as a statement of the innovation of that time: it’s a perfect synthesis between structural research, prefabrication and expressive architectural language typical of Mangiarotti’s and Morassutti’s style.

The building was originally commissioned by a local cooperative and even its design could be seen as corresponding to ideals such as the one of Arts and Crafts on the choice of unique crafted window frames and panels, or having influences in the matter of flexibility of the plans and expressionistic external skin.

The building has a conventional structure, based upon a concrete skeleton and the adoption of a system of vertical elements. These elements may accomodate glazed walls, balconies or a solid-core closing structure (this is a feature which will allowed the customization of the apartments in the most recent times). All the living rooms were supposed to be placed on the southern side of the building facing the park and lovely cityscape.

The European society has changed dramatically over the past decades, particularly in domestic life and social lifestyle. From the demographic data in Milan we can see that population is getting older, the birth rate is low and more and more people live alone without attempting to have a family. The Porta Romana/Crocetta area has the exact same situation.

In this sense, the building was affected by the gentrification of the whole area, making Quadronno area one of the most prolific high class real estate market hubs. The current inhabitants are wealthy families coming from the neighborhood or elders still staying there from the 60’s, while the rest of the nearby buildings became home for offices and professional practices.

The cooperative originally owning the building stopped functioning and now the remaining memory of it it’s president daughter’s apartment on the top floor. After a 2013 restoration, all the window frames were replaced by specifically made new triple glasses. Following the tenants alternations throughout the years, only two open loggias remain on the southern facade, since people generally prefer a larger living room than a balcony.

The Canadian grape plant completely took over the exterior and is occasionally cut off from the windows by the inhabitants. Some apartments were requalified as offices on the ground floor and on the third floor. Most owners are currently families with two children and housekeepers, but there are also some elderly singles living alone.

Viale Certosa by: Itredi Studio, 2006 The building in Viale Certosa is a residential, private use building and the start of the building started in year 2006, by architect Francesco Dolce, Itredi Studio. Even though the construction started in 2007, the building is still unfinished.

The building is located in Viale Certosa, which is one of the main arterial road of Milan. One of the most important feature of the neighborhood is the cemetery called Cimitero Maggiore. It plays a major role in the neighborhood terms of keeping the local economy alive with letting open the shops around since they are mostly owned by the grave producers.

The neighborhood is like a small city within a city. People from Certosa, usually prefer to stay in the same neighborhood. So, during the design process, the architect took in consideration the needs of people from Certosa.

In the neighborhood you can see a perfect division with a tramline in the middle. One side is filled with mainly for residential use and local bars, On the other hand, the others side of the area has just reserved for tertiary activities.

In the year 2008, a severe economic crises shaked the whole real-estate market. This hit the Certosa building very much as well. The construction company bankrupted in 2009, so the building-up process stopped. Before the 2008 era, the residential units were likely to be sold out before the construction process was completely over, but nowadays we can not say the same. Because of the situation of the market, it became impossible to sell the units for the planned price.

The complex consist of 2 towers, tower A and tower B. While Tower B, is facing the street side and taller. On the other hand, tower A is located inside of the block, covered with greenery, and also has got larger residential units.

Quadronno 24

Piranesi 44 by: Beretta Associati, 2011

The third case study we selected for our design studio represents a different twist on the theme of the cooperative property project that we just saw.

The setting for this unique project was the one of the “economic miracle” that Italy experienced in the decade following the end of WWII and which transformed Italy

This case study is in the Porta Vittoria area, which is located near the former historical Spanish walls of the city and east to to the former railway station. Even though the area counts as the outskirts of Milan, the transportation with the city is very well connected. Porta Vittoria, used to be an industrial region which contains

slaughterhouse and a meat market and also former Frigoriferi, but nowadays we can consider the area as residential. The zone has developed a lot due to the constant and dense expansion of the city. During the period starting from 1906, several plans were made in order to develop the area and delocalize the slaughterhouse which is today has no more function in it, and the Frigoriferi today works as cultural and exhibition centre.

Piranesi 44 counts of 3 housing buildings. The plot used to host an office building, which later was demolished.

When they wanted to replace the plot with this new residential building they gave the architects to draw the new re-placement only 1 month and later on the developing company went bankrupted while the building was still in under-construction. After the insurance company Generali took over the development in 2011 and finished in 2014. Luckily most of the units were sold out during the construction process.

The building is designed to shape as closed completely to the outside which makes a very intimate arrangement of central courtyard with a high level of privacy. The facade is more closed like a shell which creates a harmony with the neighborhood and the street. On the other hand, the interior facade is more dynamic with the flow of the curved terraces and sliding panels.

Via Adriano Our last case study is a building located in the north-eastern boundary of Milan which is just besides the boarder with Sesto S. Giovanni. The area was originally an agricultural site which later on went through transformations especially in the years of the grand industrial expansion. One of the most important change happened when the Magneti Marelli Factory developed its major plant in the area in the year 1891 and remained active until 1980’s. The Adriano neighborhood now mostly residential. The shift of the area from industrial to residential started in the beginning of the 2000’s. A major master plan was developed to transform the vacant industrial site with a mixed neighborhood with housing, retail and collective spaces.

Five years after, a new re-development plan consisting of 2 “ Programmi Integrate d’intervento”. Both, the programs focused mainly on developing the neighborhood provided with high standard of the services, public spaces and green areas. The program provided a lot of interventions, but in our case the most important one was a large nursery home (RSA) for the elderly which is our case study. But in years between 2006 and 2015 any of the planned program by P.I.I was completed.

The building was left unfinished because of the business collapse of Giuseppe Pasini, who was the main real estate developer involved in the district. The goal was to built an elderly health-care centre, but in the last few years the unfinished skeleton structure became a theatre of vandalism and abuse. Thanks to the Proges group who are an Italian Social Cooperative providing global and facility management to private companies and public entities, the situation was unlocked in march. According to the agreements between the city of Milano, the Region and the Public Health Agency, the Proges group will develop, the abandoned building into a multi-functional residential and service care centre. The complex is 15.000 sqm multi-functional building, providing housing: elderly and disabled health care centre, a daily care centre, social housing flats and medical clinics. The overall inhabitants are assumed to be around 200 with the number of 150 workers. Besides these functions, the building will host offices, public auditorium, a cafeteria and exposition spaces.

Interviews to the inhabitants in the neighborhood, allowed to identify issues and critical questions. Mostly the inhabitants of the neighborhood are happy about having a big supermarket nearby and many green areas.

On the other hand they are very much concerned about the failed shops, robbery & vandalism, and immigrants.

The project Thanks to the information collected and cataloged in the atlas of the social cases we were able to approach a project of co-abitation with some precise hints at the main weaknesses that had to be improved in each case.

The approach on the new aggregations was intended as a qualitative upgrade of living space, starting from the issue of space conflict, found as the main criticality in our social profiles: the main program was to design a space intended as an interconnection of breathing spaces, so to guarantee areas which are not completely collective but shaped as intimate areas to practice everyday facilities and activities, with a constant attention to guarantee double ventilation. The private rooms are not intended as standard spaces with room divisions, but rather as an unicum where activities and everyday rituals are contextual in some areas and never have strict spatial boundaries.

In detail, the program was to give essential space necessary to live to every case, consisting in a night and a living area and a bathroom, with the main living facilities situated in external to the room buffer zones which are common to a restricted number of typologies, forming an aggregation of inhabitants sharing some part of their available living space when it comes to facilities such as kitchen, dining room, projection room or leisure spaces.

We started the re-shaping of the each case taking in consideration a critic view on the Milanese housing standards in terms of minimum square meters per typology, aiming at optimizing the available space for the inhabitants in a qualitative way.

DIPARTIMENTO DI ARCHITETTURA E STUDI URBANI

SCUOLA DI ARCHITETTURA URBANISTICA INGEGNERIA DELLE COSTRUZIONI