PART II Milan 2020 - 2050
"A connected, metropolitan and global city". A new cycle of great transformations is about to hit the city of Milan. Green, suburbs, and sustainability are among the objectives of the municipal administration's development program. Widespread interventions of redevelopment and connection for the quality of life in urban suburbs. We will focus on a landscape based on equity and sustainability, and we will therefore try to increase the supply of affordable rental homes.
Milan today
4. Milan today
We could define Milan as “the city that changes”, from the 1960s to today the Milanese skyline has in fact undergone an incredible change but above all in recent years that skyscrapers and modern buildings have sprung up. Milan is offering many development opportunities, and is establishing itself in an increasingly striking way, thus assuming the role of true capital of technological innovation and culture. Today the city is recognized as a land of opportunity, innovation and technological avant-garde, it does not lag behind even on an architectural level. We can say without a doubt that the European city is the protagonist of the most amazing transformation process of the last twenty years. In a socio-economic analysis, the data that emerges from the relevance of the numbers is how the Metropolitan City of Milan is an area that follows a dichotomous vision model. A territory with areas with different connotations depending on the development model that has been implemented, suburbs with their vitality and the transformation of the former industrial areas, large urban agglomerations once provincial but today in all respects "metropolitan", large parks also agricultural. From North to South and from East to West, the Milanese city embodies a new model, which updates tradition, remodeling it, revisiting it, modernizing it.
[image 01] opposite page: Piazza del Duomo. Image by Alexandr Hovhannisyan.
meta-Morphosis 161
Costruzione Costruzione
Popolazioni movimento Growth ofinthe population in Milan, 1999 / 2030 Popolazioni in movimento Crescita della popolazione, 1999/2030 Crescita della popolazione, 1999/2030 &$'"#$### &$'"#$### &$'##$### &$'##$### &$!"#$### &$!"#$### &$!##$### &$!##$### &$%"#$### &$%"#$### &$%##$### &$%##$### &$&"#$### &$&"#$###
Struttura econ Struttura econ 930.635 occup 930.635 occup
lav lav 459.696 459.696
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Imprese, 2016 Imprese, 2016
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177,6 indice di vecchiaia 177,6 indice di vecchiaia (over 64 per 100 abitanti 0-14 anni), 2017 (over 64 per 100 abitanti 0-14 anni), 2017
Popolazione p Popolazione p
Q professioQ professio
Nati vivi residenti a Milano e quota nati vivi da padre Nati vivi residenti a Milano e quota nati vivi da padre straniero straniero 2008 162 meta-Morphosis 2008 2013 2013 2017
26,6% 26,6% 30,3% 30,3% 32,1%
12.467 12.467 11.436 11.436 11.644
Diploma Diploma
Popolazioni in movimento
Milan today
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The narrative of the most recent situation in Milan revolves around keywords that give the sense of a city that is returning to grow from a demographic and, more generally, socio-economic point of view, which increases its attractiveness, even on an international scale. Milan's entry into a new phase of development can be grasped by observing medium-term demographic trends: never so many inhabitants in the last 30 years. 1 At the end of 2019, Milan exceeded 1.4 million residents, 1,404,239, with over 40 thousand new Milanese, in addition to another 10 thousand who applied for residency but still have to be registered in the registers. The demographic weight of the city of Milan in one year has grown from 42.4% to 42.6% of the population of the metropolitan city. 1 The younger classes have grown, with an increase in residents between 19 and 24 years of + 21.7%, a trend that shows how the consolidation of the city in attracting young people who see Milan as an opportunity to train and start the their career, the students enrolled in the eight city universities amounted to almost 200,000 units. To this number must be added the "domiciled": university students, commuter workers, city users, tourists, irregular immigrants and other temporary residents. An estimate of the real number is difficult; what is certain is that the real Milan is even bigger than the Milan deriving from the registry sources. The dynamics of the foreign component certainly weigh on the most recent demographic increase, which, growing at significant rates, + 47.1% in the period 2008-2017, now reaches a share of 19.4%, a value higher than the metropolitan average. In the most recent phase, the positive trend is also evident for the Italian component, which grew by 2.2% between 2013 and 2017. The number of households also increased, 674,016 at the end of 2015, but with an increasingly fragmented composition: a against an overall growth of 7.4% since 2008, mononuclear ones have increased by 15%. The demographic projections, prepared by the Municipality of Milan in the average scenario to 2030, estimate further growth: the population will stand at 1,458,170, + 5.6%. 2
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Nati vivi residenti a Milano eyoung quota natipeople vivi da padre + 50.000 expected straniero (19-34) by 2030 2008
26,6%
12.467
>2013 674.016 families in 2015 11.436 30,3% +729.780 expected families by 2017 32,1% 11.644 2030 Variazione della popolazione per NIL, 2017/2030
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meta-Morphosis 163
Demography Demography Demography Resident population ResidentResident population population
Resident population
2000 2000
2000
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9% 9%
14%
14% 14%
2008 2008
2008
2016 2016
2016
19% 19%
19%
2030 2030
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23% 23%
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164 meta-Morphosis
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Milan today
Housing situation
The demand for homes in Milan has developed a lot in recent decades, reaching today a level of complexity that is confronted with an unsuitable, inflexible market, bound by backward regulations and speculative wills that do not aim to respond to community needs but just the achievement of personal goals. Before the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, the prospects for Milanese real estate were highly positive, with an expected increase of 6.9% in residential sales, with a turnover higher than 10% compared to the previous year. 3 After an inevitable stop due to the lockdown, the restart of activities has already seen a first return of families to interest in the real estate market. According to the findings of industry experts, demand in Milan has already restarted. Forecasts continue to see a strong Milanese market, which will be able to withstand the almost three-month market stoppage. The main signal of the good health of the Milanese real estate market however comes from the values of the properties, which remain stable compared to what was detected pre-lockdown.
[3] - Data from www.cittametropolitana.mi.it
In the past, demand was organized more clearly and was made up of a few homogeneous classes with higher income than those that make up the current situation. Today the most solid categories are those of medium-high income households, who try to move from a rented house to one in ownership through the opening of mortgages, and those who, already owners of the house, try to move towards a larger in size. Alongside this category, made up of consolidated families, there are others of a new type, such as the new modern families, those of non-EU origin and populations with temporary residence, or "city users". Lastly, there is the emergency demand range which, due to the economic crisis, includes a constantly expanding segment of the population. This band, finding no answer in public residential facilities, pours into the free market. The market shows a real difficulty in responding effectively to the growing demand for housing, especially housing at a subsidized price, which can respond to the greater housing demand present. Therefore, the size and articulation of the demand for current living should be evaluated more.
meta-Morphosis 165
Relative incidence of poverty in northern Italy
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Milan today
Development scenarios The scenario of demographic growth and changes in the structure of the population calls for reflection on the future housing demand. Due to deep-rooted cultural factors, the Milanese real estate market has always been characterized by a clear preference of households towards home ownership, seen as a long-term investment and an element of economic security. The existing situation, however, highlights a large segment that resides with regular and nonregular rental contracts. This is the weakest segment of the population, made up in particular of young people, immigrants, single elderly people and newly established families. The choice of this type of residential is, only in rare cases, oriented by specific housing choices; while in most cases it is the consequence of the economic weakness of these types of users that prevents them from accessing the property market. The high price of the market, the closure of access to credit, prevents the weaker groups from being able to buy a home, even by taking out a mortgage. Therefore, despite the present demand, the overall stock of apartments for rent in Milan struggles to increase, actually experiencing a reduction in the last twenty years, in the face of a continuously increasing volume of houses destined for ownership. The reasons are to be found in the greater security and higher yield of this second type of investment and in the slowness, on the part of public management, in developing sufficient tools to direct the private market towards purposes of common and not private interest. The scarcity of residential assets intended for rent, and the liberalization of prices, have led these to have a significant impact on those weaker groups who turn to them precisely because of economic difficulties. Almost all of this rented property belongs to the free market regime. The incidence of rental expenditure on total income is therefore particularly high, within the lower income brackets, increasing with the decrease of this. In addition, the incidence of household spending weighs in a proportional manner twice on families who turn to the rental market compared to those who turn to the property market. The contingency between low income bracket and rented housing solution entail the accentuation of a vulnerable condition of families, leading to a real housing problem.
€ Created by Three Six Five from the Noun Project
+ 25 % houses for rent
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+ 84% demand for rent + 3,3% increase in price
Sources: Abitare oltre la proprietà; Coricelli, Federico; Robiglio, Matteo; Russi, Nicola Paolo; 2019 www.housinganywhere.com, Rent index by city www.thevision.com, Attualita affitti abitativi insostenibili www.affaritaliani.it, Milano esplodono gli sfratti nel 2018 www.ilsole24ore.com, Afitti Milano boom domanda e canoni rialzo
meta-Morphosis 167
Housing demand “The new poor Italians are young people and workers”
66 % of young people live with their parents 30,4 average of years when young people leave home
[4] - Data from www.idealista.it
First, as has long been repeated, the questions have changed. The demand for housing accessible by categories of users who have different times of living in the city becomes increasingly important: students, city users, immigrants, professionals, creatives, etc. There is link between the age group and the income bracket, which leads to the conclusion that the group most in difficulty, to access rent at affordable prices, are above all young people, students or recent graduates, and households, mono or bi parental, all composed of subjects usually under the age of 34. However, these are precisely the nuclei that make up most of the demand for rental housing, due to a cultural trend already widespread abroad. The vulnerability factor of this band is therefore linked to the combination of poor economic opportunities and the need to bear the costs of an entire home alone. This is also due to the fact that wages have decreased nowadays, and the young people are the most affected both in terms of costs and physical terms. In addition, families have diversified in composition and require housing models different from those imposed by the traditional offer. The production of residential buildings appears excessive and badly oriented. The surveys highlight the high imbalance between the demand and supply of housing and between the quality of demand and quality of supply. The demand for social housing is equal to 50.07% of the total, the demand for conventioned is 25.36% and the demand for free qiella is equal to 24.57%. These balances can and must be met on a metropolitan scale. There is an endogenous demand that arises in the Province with a strong and growing need for low-cost housing that now does not find sufficient answers in the city of Milan.
The rental market today 1°
18,70 euro/mq highest rent price in Italy
168 meta-Morphosis
Today, due to the health emergency and the consequent closure measures, the economic-working context in the city has changed. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and others, who were already living in a state of unemployment, have seen the barrier to entry into the world of employment rise further, while layoffs have hit a huge number of employees. In Lombardy, the total hours requested for layoffs in the twomonth period March-April 2020 were 184.1% of those requested in the first quarter of 2010. And the worst is probably yet to come. Yet
Milan today
rents remain stationary or even increase, as emerges from the data from Idealista.it. In Milan in September 2020, the annual change underwent an increase of 5.2%, compared to the previous year. 4 In the world of rents, there has been a boom in the supply of houses intended for this purpose: + 25% compared to last year. Those who wanted to sell found that the time was not right, while thousands of empty homes intended for short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, have moved to longer rentals.
Prices of rents in Milan €/m2 www.idealista.it
The prices are therefore established directly by the Milan market and since the demand for rental houses continues to be very high, and the contracts are closed anyway, it does not seem necessary to lower the prices for the rentals. But if you look deeper, the reality is quite different, many complain about the impossibility of paying rents due to job losses and reduced salaries. At the end of April, the call published by Palazzo Marino to have access to the rental bonus, or 1,500 euros one-off until the resources are exhausted, received 5 thousand applications in the first week alone, to reach a total of about 17 thousand applications after three weeks . A demonstration of how the problem of rents in Milan is today a more important issue than ever. Even before the pandemic, the situation of the rental market in Milan was drastic, and the housing emergency was already present in a large percentage. There would therefore be a need to act on several fronts, increasing both social and public housing. Another big theme is that of student residences. Since Milan is an attractive city, which every year welcomes a huge number of young people from all over the world, in order to respond to the disproportionate costs that these off-site students have to bear, the number of residences should be increased.
<15,50 €/m2
>24,50 €/m2
meta-Morphosis 169
170 meta-Morphosis
Milan 2030: PGT
5. Milan 2030: PGT
The PGT of Milan 2030, approved in October 2019, with the aim of defining the structure of the entire municipal territory, is a reality much more than a local one, if we consider that it is the definition of the objectives of the Italian city that at the moment is more projected towards Europe. This Plan aims to accompany Milan towards 2030 by continuing the positive evolution of our city starting from three new purposes: extending the good time in Milan to all age groups and social groups, taking into account the increase in population especially under 35 and over 85 ; expand growth to all neighborhoods, not just those that have benefited from it in recent years; combine development with the improvement of environmental conditions, quality of life, green supply. This path is configured in 5 primary objectives: 1
[1] - From General report, PGT, Documento di Piano, Milano 2030 Visione, Costruzione, Strategie, Spazi.
• A connected, metropolitan and global city • A city of attractive and inclusive opportunity • A green, liveable and resilient city • One city, 88 neighborhoods to call by name • A city that regenerates With these new points we want to try to create better conditions so that the city can better welcome the new inhabitants, face the elements of suffering and urban contradictions and put public space at the center of the proposal. The major transformations, Mind-post Expo, along the axis of the North West and Città della Salute in the North East are therefore important. notable points in the stopovers. The quality of the squares, streets, gardens, the vitality of the ground floors therefore play an even greater role in the projects than the buildings. In addition, to better accommodate the new inhabitants, a housing offer is needed that sees the amount of social housing and rent increase, even in free housing.
[image 02] opposite page: Milan, Piazza Duomo. Photo by Larissa Mihalik.
meta-Morphosis 171
Chiasso Monza Brianza Lecco Sondrio
Varese Monza
Como
A52
Aeroporto di Orio al Serio
Aeroporto di Malpensa
A4 M1
A50 A8
Sesto San Giovanni
A52 Cologno
Comasina
M3
M5
Rho
A51 Nord
Bignami
M2
Novara
Fieramilano M1
Expo Area
Rho Fiera
A4
STEPHENSON
Gessate Certosa
Torino
Gobba Bovisa
Molino Dorino
Villapizzone Maciachini
Bonola Loreto
Settimo Milanese
Lambrate
Lampugnano Garibaldi
Centrale Segrate
San Siro Quinto Romano
Lotto
M5
Linate Aeroporto
Forlanini
Olmi
Bisceglie M1
Trento
Porta Romana
Tibaldi San Cristoforo
Romolo
Famagosta
San Donato
Corvetto M2
Rogoredo M3
Trezzano Abbiategrasso
Abbiategrasso
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A50 Assago Milanofiori
M2
Bologna
A1
A50 A7
Milan 2030: PGT
Accessibility + viability: today
The development of its urban form has always gone hand in hand with that of public transport infrastructures on rail. The building capacity of the Milan of the future intends to be functional at the level of accessibility, according to a logic of urban growth that is not widespread, for densification on the nodes, which requires the greatest possible number of people to live and work within a short distance from a train stop or of the metro, to reduce dependence on private mobility. Milan continues to consolidate its infrastructural endowment, increasing its connectivity by strengthening the offer of services and interchange nodes for public transport envisaged by planning and strategic, territorial and sectoral programming. In the ranking that measures the most accessible cities, both from the point of view of travel options and the availability and affordability of the options, Milan ranks sixth in the world. This is stated by the City Mobility Index, part of the Mobility Futures study 3, which analyzes the challenges, and highlights the opportunities, in terms of mobility and transport in 31 cities around the world. Specifically, the index (which considers income equality, transport costs compared to income, the public transport network compared to the size of the population, the availability of public transport or the motorization rate) shows that Milan ranks in sixth place "for the availability of options and economic accessibility of the available modes of transport". The Milanese transport system is the most widespread of all Italian cities and competes at European level for the number of km of the underground network and for the quantity of tram lines , offering a decent intermodality. However, there is no circular interchange, which can allow commuters, who enter the city center from the more peripheral stations, to easily reach the various existing lines.
[1] - The research is carried out by Kantar, a company active in market research and marketing consultancy.
0
1
2 km
Legend Roads Ring road Highways Train stations Railway lines Tram lines Metropolitan lines Project area Expo 2015 area Fiera Milano (2005)
meta-Morphosis 173
Chiasso Monza Brianza Lecco Sondrio
Varese Monza
Como
A52
Ex Alfa Romeo Arese Bettola Aeroporto di Orio al Serio
Aeroporto di Malpensa
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A52
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M5
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Villapizzone Maciachini
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Settimo Milanese
Lambrate
Lampugnano Garibaldi
Centrale Segrate
San Siro Quinto Romano
Lotto
M5
Linate Aeroporto
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Olmi
Bisceglie M1
Trento
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Tibaldi San Cristoforo
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San Donato
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A1
A50 A7
Milan 2030: PGT
Accessibility + viability: 2030
Metropolitan Milan is an integrated territorial system, fed by a dense network of tangible and intangible relationships, which establish close links of interdependence and complementarity between the urban and territorial contexts that compose it. One of the key themes to relaunch Milan is mobility. Like the main metropolises of the world, here too public transport means above all the subway. Milan, like the main European metropolises by now, has decided to invest heavily, in this period, in large infrastructures for sustainable mobility. The Milan metro, in fact, will be increasingly innovative and its network will grow by +34% by 2030 . Among the future works in the process of being carried out we have the extension of the current M1, M2, M3 and M5, extensions beyond the municipal boundaries. Another project is the construction of the future M4 line, also called the blue line. The line connects the historic center with the East part, Q.re Forlanini and Linate Airport, and with the West part, Q.re Lorenteggio and San Cristoforo station. The line, currently under construction, will therefore integrate the urban transport network with a new fast, efficient, comfortable and non-polluting solution. Its realization will allow to reduce traffic, with considerable benefits for those who live and work in Milan, and for the environment. Among the future projects approved by the city, already under construction, there is also the Cirle-line. Thanks to the agreement with FS, Milan will have a new mobility infrastructure that provides for the addition of 6 new stops: Tibaldi, Porta Romana actually moved from its current position to cross M3, Istria with M5, Dergano with M3, Stephenson and MIND -Cascina Merlata, in addition to the 6 existing ones: San Cristoforo, Romolo, Forlanini, Lambrate, Certosa, Rho Fiera. This project will allow the mobility of Milan to be truly more complete, guaranteeing a circular interchange with the existing radial lines. Furthermore, the connections to the most external and marginal areas of the city will be strengthened to the projects in progress, thus also improving the conditions of the existing system.
[1] - Data General report, PGT, Documento di Piano, Milano 2030 Visione, Costruzione, Strategie, Spazi.
0
1
2 km
Legend Roads Ring road Highways Train stations Railway lines Tram lines Metropolitan lines New metropolitan lines Circle line Planned great trasformations Project area Expo area
meta-Morphosis 175
Lam
bro
Parco di Monza
Parco Valle del Lura Parco del Grugnotorto Villoresi
Parco delle Groane
o Seves
Parco della Balossa
PLIS Media Valle Del Lambro
Parco Nord
Naviglio Martesana Olona
Parco Lambro Bosco in Città
Parco Aldo Aniasi
Parco Forlanini Parco delle Cave
Parco Monluè
Parco dei Fontanili
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Milan 2030: PGT
Green areas: today
In times of expansion of large cities, green areas were often sacrificed. Aware of the ever increasing importance of protecting the environment and the health of citizens, today Milan is following a reverse path to enhance its green areas making them more and more valuable, for example by promoting urban agriculture initiatives and planning large reforestation projects for the future.
[1] - Data General report, PGT, Documento di Piano, Milano 2030 Visione, Costruzione, Strategie, Spazi.
One of the most recently built parks that continue to expand is undoubtedly the CityLife Park surrounded by towers which, with its 5,000 square meters, has won the title of the second largest park in the city center. There are many new green lungs in the city that in the coming years will be in the top 10 of the largest green areas in Milan and its suburbs. > Lambro Park 773,000 sqm > Sempione Park 386,000 sq m > Montestella 311.200 sqm > Nuovo Scalo Farini which, at the end of the works, will count 308,000 square meters > New Piazza d'Armi park 236,000 square meters > Bovisa, the industrial architectures of the gasometers will be surrounded by 177,000 square meters of gardens > CityLife which currently has 120,000 but should reach 173,000 by the end of 2021 > Montanelli Gardens 172,000 sq m > Bisceglie in the new district will reach 160,000 square meters > Villa Scheibler 148,000 sqm
0
1
2 km
Legend Urban green areas Outer green areas Local and regional parks Green sport areas Agricultural green areas Green overgrown pasture areas Woods Waterways Body of water
Project area
meta-Morphosis 177
Lam
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Parco di Monza
Parco Valle del Lura Parco del Grugnotorto Villoresi
Parco delle Groane
o Seves
Parco della Balossa
PLIS Media Valle Del Lambro
Parco Nord
Naviglio Martesana Olona
Scalo Greco
Parco Lambro
Scalo Farini Bosco in Città
Parco Aldo Aniasi Scalo Lambrate
Parco Forlanini Parco delle Cave
Parco dei Fontanili
Scalo San Cristoforo
Scalo Porta Genova
Parco Monluè Scalo Porta Romana
Lambro Meridionale
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Pav e
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Parco Ticinello
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Redefossi
Milan 2030: PGT
Green areas: 2030
Milan wants to give itself a green footprint, eliminating land consumption, enhancing its green and blue infrastructures, increasing its resilience in the face of changes that impact the urban ecosystem. The Plan for Milan 2030 protects 1.7 million m2 from possible urbanization through the downsizing of settlement forecasts and the restriction to agricultural use of 3 million m2, thus reducing land consumption by 4%.
[1] - Data General report, PGT, Documento di Piano, Milano 2030 Visione, Costruzione, Strategie, Spazi.
Over 27 thousand square meters of areas that have been depaved and converted into green areas. This is the balance of the interventions carried out in Milan and launched in recent months as part of the administration plan to increase the ecological, social and structural qualities of public spaces. In fact, in order to thoroughly revive the city, in addition to the construction of new parks, gardens and tree-lined areas, the Municipality is working on the conversion of gray impermeable areas into green areas, adapting inhospitable areas to ecological and social functions. The goal for Milan 2030 is to build and strengthen networks and environmental relationships which, through land saving policies and patient reconquest of the one already exploited, insinuate themselves between the built-up area through punctual interventions of reconnection of public and private spaces, of reforestation, of "environmental regeneration" of degraded and fragmented places.
0
1
2 km
Legend Existing green areas Local and regional parks New green areas New urban parks Areas of environmental regeneration Waterways Reopening of the Navigli
Project area
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A52 Ex Alfa Romeo Arese
Bettola
A4 A50 A8 A52
Città della Salute
Bruzzano Niguarda Caʼ Granda
MIND Post Expo
A51
Viale Monza
Bovisasca STEPHENSON
A4
Quarto Oggiaro
Adriano Bovisa
Dergano Padova
Greco Trenno
Maggiore Musocco Villapizzone
Figino
Quinto Romano
Segrate Ex Dogana
Lambrate Ortica
Baggio
Mecenate
Scalo Romana San Cristoforo
Ronchetto sul Naviglio
Ponte Lambro Barona
Lodi Corvetto Ripamonti Rogoredo
A50
A1
A50 A7
Milan 2030: PGT
Renewal and regeneration areas 2030
The idea of the city for Milan 2030 is built through a new form of plan, a regenerative plan. An urban plan that recognizes articulated urban areas that are not well established, located on the edge of the city, within which to recompose the fracture spaces with the most central areas of the city. The aim is to establish new relationships with the metropolitan scale, supporting methods of reuse, recycling and urban renewal. A Plan that extensively promotes repeatable urban and environmental regeneration interventions, of limited complexity, in an incremental evolutionary perspective, capable of networking, profoundly incisive on urban quality even with minimal modifications of the building envelopes.
[1] - Data General report, PGT, Documento di Piano, Milano 2030 Visione, Costruzione, Strategie, Spazi.
A Plan that defines articulated regenerative devices involving a plurality of spaces, not only abandoned or underutilized, since it is considered fundamental for the rebirth of the suburbs to focus on greater care and attention for the condition of young people and for the educational and sporting activities that can be practiced in such neighborhoods. Rethinking the peripheries with an integrated approach. Redevelop cities starting from the contrast of social inequalities and the gaps in access to opportunities.
0
1
2 km
Legend Highly accessible areas Interchange knots Great trasformation planned Other areas of regeneration Areas of Urban Renewal Environmental regeneration Project area
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PART III From Office to Home
The conversion of a building from a tertiary use to residential use can be a real opportunity to regenerate the vacant assets in Milan. The mechanism is a complex process, it is not just a building operation but a complex set of phases and evaluations. To better understand this great possibility, it is necessary to analyze the methodology, its risks, and its opportunities, through the study of various cases already applied within the world panorama.
6. Transforming the abandoned office buildings
The issue of the conversion of office buildings into housing has been a thematic research where, especially Dutch public opinion, have already addressed in the past.1
[1] - A lot of papers were written on this thematic between 2006 and 2007 by the department of Real Estate & Housing in the Faculty of Architecture in the University of Technology in Delft.
The accent upon the issue is certainly the national lockdown period that we spent at the beginning of 2020, as our home has become the main place to spend everyday life, as opposed to the workplace. These months have profoundly changed the collective imagination of working, just think of the so-called smartworking that we still use today, and which in the future will become a consolidated work practice. For several months, streets, offices, squares, shops and restaurants have remained empty, mixing with what is a built environment where it is not uncommon to see unused buildings. Financial uncertainties and the lack of awareness of opportunities and actual risks in the conversion of office buildings to residences, have led to relegate this strategy of conversion to being an occasional practice, especially in the private sphere and therefore not publicly structured, despite is experiencing a growing appreciation on a theoretical level. Therefore, a practice made up of punctual elements, where the customer expresses the desire to convert an unused building into something alive, driven by common sense, economic profit, new laws on the subject, where the thematic of economical affordability is not addressed. In light of this, the real challenge is to understand what are the drivers, the risks and the criteria to be considered in order to transform the sporadic conversion of offices into a strategy to be applied on a large scale, a common practice behaving as a guideline for the conversion of the Ligresti Towers. This is in order to respond in architectural and social terms to the problems of the current city, and to cope the housing emergency and revitalize the abandoned urban areas in decay.
[image 01] opposite page: Photo of the interior space of one of the Ligresti's towers in Stephenson area.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Some international examples
Although this strategy has experienced growing appreciation on a theoretical level in previous years, especially through numerous studies abroad, it is still finding application on a very small scale, especially in Italy. Certainly the main causes are the lack of knowledge about the actual opportunities and risks. On the other hand, the main problem is related to the complexity of the process and the many factors to consider in order to ensure a sustainable success of the operation in terms of not only economic, but also social and architectural feasibility. If implemented as a conscious strategy, the reconversion of the unused assets would result in a new beneficial and lasting use for the buildings, with significant social and economic benefits, given the less destructive impact compared to a possible demolition and reconstruction of the buildings. 1
[1] - Remoy H.T., 2014, "Adaptive reuse", in Wilkinson S.J, Remoy H.T., Langston C., 2014, Sustainable building adaptation: innovations in decision making, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, page 93-182.
Analyzing the architectural panorama in the world, the most easily found examples are linked to individual projects resulting from private initiatives, generally born as simple real estate transactions that responded to purely economic parameters. The urban processes of regeneration of the obsolete heritage, through the functional renewal and redestination of the urban fabric, are now a consolidated tool in the context of the contemporary city. Some sensitive issues in the development of urban nuclei can be considered equally universal today, such as those of reducing land consumption, densification of the center, energy dependence and CO2 emissions. The instrument of functional reconversion of the obsolete tertiary heritage has already been implemented on a large scale in the past in New York during the 80 'and 90', and on a smaller scale in London, Rotterdam, Boston, Chicago, Vancouver , Toronto, Sydney, Amsterdam and Melbourne. Cities that in the 1990s had to face a high need for residential properties and an equally important presence of vacant buildings from the service sector. Sustainable themes, together with social and economic objectives, have guided the municipalities of these cities towards reconversion and reuse. To better understand this process and to investigate what are the best strategies for a good conversion we analyzed several
[image 02] opposite page: Centre Point office building in London that has been converted into 82 one to five-bedroom apartments.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
international case studies. The priority was to highlight the different design strategies used for this purpose. All the projects are realized buildings, in which all the different aspects of the process are put into a system towards a common goal, that of reconversion. The two case studies "Lyoner Straße" and "De Generaal" may be similar cases to the Ligresti Towers for the tower typology of the building, while the "Terminus house" in Harlow and the "Newbury house" in Ilford are examples of speculation, characterized by the superficiality of the design and bureaucratic choices adopted, thus creating a really difficult place to live. The case in "Habsburgstrasse" is an example of how the typological variety of the apartments can be designed with such a rigid and schematic scheme of the previous building, while the two Parisian cases are an example of volumetric addition to the building body capable of generating a filter space between the apartments and the external environment. In all the cases we analyzed both the adopted strategy and the qualitative characteristics which distinguishes them or not. We therefore tried to subsequently define which are the common drivers, to be taken into consideration for the success of a good conversion.
[image 03-08] opposite page: - Lyoner Straße by Stefan Forster Architekten - De Generaal by Mei architects and planners - Habsburgstrasse by em2n architects - 101 - 103 bdv Macdonald by Lobjoy et Bowier Architects - 26 Rue des Peupliers by XTU Architects, - Terminus house in Harlow
#
(1989) - 2010 Lyoner Straße, Stefan Forster Architekten, Frankfurt (DE)
#
(1966) - 2019 De Generaal, Mei architects and planners, Rijswik (NL)
#
(1970) - 2010 Habsburgstrasse, em2n architects, Zurich (CH)
#
(1969) -2016 101 - 103 bdv Macdonald, Lobjoy et Bowier Architects, Paris (FR)
#
(1972) - 2015 26 Rue des Peupliers, XTU Architects, Paris (FR)
#
(1960) - 2017 Terminus house, Harlow (UK)
#
(1960) - 2014 Newbury house, Ilford (UK)
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legend: strategies of conversion of the case studies
removing the existing façade Intervention consisting in the complete removal of the previous façade, to leave space for the new one and therefore to improve the performance of the building.
increase in surface area per floor Intervention that consists in increasing the existing slab, to be able to increase the useful surface for future residences.
+
placing balconies or loggias Intervention that consists in adding overhanging or partially overhanging balconies on the façade, or adding internal loggias to the façade. This generates new outdoor spaces for each housing unit.
adding floors Intervention that consists in adding number X floors on top of the existing building, to have more floors of housing units or common spaces in addition.
+
+
adding new staircase Intervention that consists in adding a new staircase to improve the existing circulation system.
housing layouts differentiated by floor Strategy that consists in creating different housing units per floor, to create a mix of different possible layouts.
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legend: qualitative characteristics of the case studies
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Internal space
Dwelling's mixitè
Large living space
Double facing disposition
Private exterior space
Daylight
Sound proofing
Outdoor amenity space
20m² Small dwelling's size
Lack of (...)
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Lyoner Straße, Stefan Forster Architekten, Frankfurt am Main (DE), 1989 > 2010
> strategy:
+
The building was completely gutted, leaving only the load-bearing frame. Then it was transformed into a residential block, helped by the square ground plan and the removal of two lifts. This enabled the sanitary installations and other infrastructure to be located in this core, and also facilitated the development of completely flexible apartment plans with the number of apartments per floor ranging from two to seven. Finally, by extending the building upwards three storeys (including a top floor set back from the façade) and by lowering the parapets of the highrise, slimmer, more elegant proportions were achieved. The transformation into a residential block provided 98 apartments with flexible ground plans that allow for an interior arrangement with two to seven apartments leading off each hallway.
> location: Niederrad is a city district of Frankfurt am Main, it's above all an office district, also called Bürostadt (office city). > program: 98 mid-range apartments (48/160 m2). > typology: Tower
23.70 m
23.70 m
> qualitative characteristics:
20m²
> building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: decentralized - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: glazed curtain wall.
[image 09-12] opposite page: Photos of the before and after reconversion of the building.
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Before situation: Office building with courtain wall
Strategy: 1. Removing the existing facade and walls
1/2 windows 1/2 opaque
2. New glass facade with loggias
3. Layout residential units
2/3 windows 1/3 opaque
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Before
typical floor plan
After
3th typical floor plan 4
8m
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
De Generaal, Mei architects and planners, Rijswijk (NL), 1966 > 2019
+
> strategy:
A smart plan of the transformation of this centrally located office building into a flexible and sustainable apartment complex, with new glass façades with more than 180 apartments, ranging from 70 to 100 m2. The strategy consisted in removing the existing facade of the office tower and extending the storey floors to the contour of the existing basement. Around the extended floor edges a new glass skin was mounted with a maximum transparant skin. A floor height of 3 meters and glass from floor to ceiling gives these apartments unique spatial qualities. Each apartment has a private terrace or loggia. Part of the ground floor is reserved for commercial facilities, such as restaurants and cafés. The attractive and lively plinth will help to improve the quality of public space and the connection with the surrounding area. The existing basement of the former building was re-used to house the individual storage rooms and a joint bicycle storage.
> localization: Rijswijk is a town in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland.
> qualitative characteristics:
> building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: central. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: glazed curtain wall.
20m²
> program: 200 luxury apartments (70/100 m2 ) commercial spaces. > typology: Tower
21 m
52 m
[image 13-16] opposite page: Photos of the before and after reconversion of the building.
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Before situation: Office building with courtain wall
Strategy: 1. Thickening and placing balconies
2. Layout residential units
3. New glass facade with outdoor spaces
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Before
Section before the adding of the new floor surface.
After
Section after the adding of the new floor surface.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Habsburgstrasse, em2n architects, Zurich (CH), 1970 > 2010
> strategy:
+
The aim of the conversionof this office building was not to domesticate the existing building but rather to profit from its bulky quality. The building was stripped back to the load-bearing structure and a second staircase was added to the circulation system. This created a collective spatial figure that provides access to all the apartments. The considerable room heights of the existing building relieved the problem of providing sufficient light posed by building depths of up to 24 meters while also helping to give the rooms a sense of spaciousness. A kind of spatial jig-saw puzzle made up of interlocking single-storey apartments and maisonettes is developed between this circulation figure and the façade. The research for the typological organization was the center of the project episode. A discreet and organized external appearance is contrasted by a very articulated internal organization. Each apartment forms an individual piece that reacts in a specific way to its position.
> qualitative characteristics:
20m²
> localization: Historical fabric mainly residential with mixed functions. > program: 27 different apartments (70/100 m2 ). > typology: Linear building.
23.65 m
49 m > building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: central. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: band of windows.
[image 17-18] opposite page: Photos of the before and after reconversion of the building.
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Axonometry with the different housing units.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Before
After
[image 19] Image with all the different unit typologies.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Metamorphoses, an exposition about the theme
The theme of the conversion of office buildings into residences is represented for the first time by an exhibition organized at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, between April and May 2015. The exhibition brings together about thirty transformation projects carried out in Paris in recent years, to demonstrate precisely what new architectural scenarios can arise from this situation. The characteristics of the buildings require different transformation strategies. If most of the transformations concerned buildings from the period before the war, or even the Haussmannian buildings, which have shown great adaptability, the latest laws related to the environment and accessibility have made it difficult to return to the market even for recent tertiary buildings. To re-inhabit these spaces it is necessary to stage more complex works: replacement of facades, creation of spaces for circulation, openings of patios, etc. but at the same time to redefine the ways of living for new categories of users. The exhibition has thus become an opportunity to promote the dissemination of examples of quality, which can set the architectural objectives hoped for by the conversion processes of the tertiary sector that the Administration is promoting.
[image 20] Picture from the Exposition "Metamorphoses".
In our research we take into consideration just two case studies, because the original state of the converted office is similar to what we have in the Ligresti Towers in terms of facade: the first present a continuous curtain wall, and the second present a series of ribbon windows interspersed by the structural pillars. Both the examples present a strategy of "addition" of an external element to the facade that mediate the interior space with the exterior one.
[image 21] - opposite page: Cover page of the exhibition "Metamorphoses" organized in 2015 by the Pavillon de l' Arsenal in Paris.
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
101 - 103 bdv Macdonald, Lobjoy et Bouvier Architects, Paris (FR), 1969 > 2016
> strategy:
This case of office building was built in 1969, and it was the subject of a competition in 2011 where the Architecture Studio Lobjoy et Bowier won the design of the conversion from office to residencial. The initial state for office use was characterized by a longitudinal planimetric system, where the two staircases were connected to the different rooms by a central corridor. The new project provides for the separation of the two staircases by means of a range of services of the residences located centrally wher the previous corridor was, thus creating a variety of accommodations of different sizes ranging from one-room to four-room apartments. The interesting feature lies in the separation between the internal environment of the apartments and the external one: by removing the existing curtain wall, a cladding system is applied to the façade consisting of opaque and glass panels, where subsequently a continuous light structure that can be walked, designing the entire elevation acting as a filter between the apartments and the external environment.
> localization: 101 - 103 bdv Macdonald, urban area characterized by housing shortage and urban development of north-east side of Paris.
> qualitative characteristics:
> building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: on the short sides of the building. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: curtain wall on two sides.
very small
20m²
> program: Dwellings for different user profiles from one-room to four-room apartments. > typology: Linear building.
13 m 32 m
[image 22] - opposite page: Office building before the conversion. [image 23-24] - opposite page: New residential use of the building. The two images show the internal layout and the new system facade before and after the conversion of the building.
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Before
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After
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Transforming the abandoned office buildings
Nuages, XTU Architects, Paris (FR), 1972 > 2017
> strategy:
This case of office building was built in 1972, subsequently commissioned in 2017 to XTU Architects for the conversion into a residence as it has not been used for several years. The initial state for office use was characterized by an important central core consisting of vertical lifts, toilets and deposits, where horizontal distribution to the various offices was guaranteed by a circular corridor around it. The new project envisages the demolition of two elevators (of the four that were), and the limitation of the distribution corridor in terms of square meters, thus creating a variety of accommodation of different sizes ranging from oneroom to four-room apartments. As in the previous example, the most expressive strategy concerns the façade: in fact, the original façade is replaced by full-height windows, where a double skin with different hanging volumes is subsequently applied, which expand the internal space of the apartments by letting light in from different sides, and at the same time it is used as an outdoor terrace for the apartments above.
> localization: 72A Rue de la Colonie is located in the heart of the thirteenth arrondissement of Paris. An area characterized by a dense urban tissue mainly residential, the building is set in a private park. > program: 115 units for different user profiles from oneroom to four-room apartments (25/170 m2 ). > typology: Linear building.
21.50 m 45 m
> qualitative characteristics: > building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: one on the short sides of the building and one decentralized. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: band of windows.
[image 25] - opposite page: Office building before the conversion.
20m²
[image 26-27] - opposite page: New residential use of the building. The two images show the internal layout and the new system facade, after the conversion of the building.
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Before
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After
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Bad experiences in the conversion in UK
[1] - The government’s impact assessment, published in 2013, “expected that there would be 140 applications per year across England”. In reality, 10,166 applications were received between 2014 and 2017. In Why ‘dangerous’ office-to-residential permitted development rights must stop by Julia Park, August 2019. www.thedeveloper.live
[image 28] - Cover of the essay " Why the government should end permitted development rights for office to residential conversions". By Levitt Bernstein, 2019 (UK)
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Not all practices of conversion from offices to residences have the desired outcome, especially if this methodology is applied for speculative purposes, taking advantage of current legislation. This happened in the UK, where Levitt Bernstein, an architecture, landscape architecture and urban design practice, has launched an online petition to end permitted development rights for officeto-residential conversions. The possibility of changing the use of buildings through a legislation called 'PDR' 1(Permitted Development Rights) without having a planning permission, has led to the proliferation of buildings often placed on the edge of the cities where the tenants live like in a chicken coop. This permission from the English public administration, although conceived for a good purpose by saying "it is an opportunity for office owners and developers to bring outdated and underused buildings back to life", proved to be a ploy used by many developers to derive the maximum profit from previously worthless buildings, on which entire families now pay rent for a room of a handful of square meters. Levitt Bernstein design practice, reported several cases, clear examples of this speculative model, in a book called "Why the government should end permitted development rights for office to residential conversions".
Transforming the abandoned office buildings
As reported by the architects of Levitt Bernstein, being mainly a problem of the quality of the spaces that are created inside these buildings, bypassing the normal planning system means bypassing many of the standards that exist to protect housing quality. These provide vital safeguards for areas such as: - internal space - daylight - air quality - limits in dwellings per core - outdoor amenity space - sound proofing - dual aspetc
13 m2
3,60 m
3,82 m
Architects’ plans for the smallest of the proposed studio flats in Newbury House, only 13 m2.
Moreover the location of many office-to-residential conversions is another serious concern. Those office buildings are often located on noisy and polluted streets or roundabouts; often surrounded by car parks. The incessant noise and poor air quality make this not just an undesirable place to live, but a dangerous one. Unsurprisingly, most of the buildings that have been converted are fairly tired; many date back to the 60s and 70s so are already 50 years old. Very few offer any usable green space, none are likely to have balconies and few developers make any attempt to add them. In a large proportion of conversions, the internal layout comprises a long, central corridor with flats on both sides. With an institutional feel and little, or no, natural light, this arrangement is considered the option of "last resort" for housing for very good reasons. But the most obvious, and possibly the most worrying, deficiency of office to residential conversions is that they often comprise very small flats. 77% of the homes in the case studies evaluated by the RICS were studios or one-bedroom apartments. The government’s own Nationally Described Space Standard (NDSS), requires a minimum internal floor area of 37 m2 for a single person studio or apartment. PDR has produced a significant number of studios of 13m2 – a third of the government’s own recommendation. These examples demonstrate how difficult it is to convert office buildings into quality residences that have all the necessary comforts. For a correct transformation is therefore necessary the right conditions both concerning the building and its charcteristics, but not only, also concerning the social-political, regulatory, and economic-financial aspects. Furthermore, in all of these projects there is no mention of the architect, this is because in all this cases the greatest interest is the profit of the investor, without minimally taking into account the architectural final result, but only the economic one.
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Terminus House, Harlow (UK), 1960 > 2017
Terminus House is a looming, grey concrete, former office building comprising a nine-storey tower above five floors of car parking. Located in a busy part of the town, next to the bus station and close to Harlow College and local shops, it gained Prior Approval for conversion to residential use in 2014. In this case, the approach of fitting as much dwellings as possible in a single building, without taking care about the location and the possible tenants, made this building a people warehouse. If initially the reconversion was intended for homeless people, it soon turned into a catalyst for socially fragile people, even families with children forced to live in a handful of square meters, thus ghettoizing the entire complex and leading it to become a black spot of the city of Harlow.
> localization: City of Harlow, in the suburbs of London, a district characterized by the presence of a college, local shops and a bus stop. > program: 200 dwellings composed by on room and toilette, ranging from 18 m² to 20m², dedicated to people with fragile social profile. > typology: Linear building.
14 m 53 m
> qualitative characteristics: > building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: on the long sides of the building. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: Grid of windows.
[image 29] - opposite page: Exterior view of the Terminus House in Harlow (UK).
20m²
opposite page: Type floor plan of the Terminus house after the conversion from office building to residential one.
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Newbury House, Ilford (UK), 1960 > 2014
Newbury House is an unremarkable, seven storey building located on the edge of the A12, an extremely busy and polluted, six-lane, dual carriageway. On August 2014 the conversion of six floors of office space to 60 studios , 18 singles and 42 doubles, was confirmed. Also in this case the approach was fitting as much dwellings as possible in a single building, without taking care about the location and the possible tenants. The single studios range from 13 m2 to 15.6 m2; the doubles from 14.7 m2 to 23.5 m2. 48 are single aspect and 12 have windows on two adjacent sides. Half of the single aspect studios face north, so will receive no sun, and half face south. None of the studios appears to have any built-in storage; the "kitchen" appears to comprise a hob and a sink, the quadrant-shaped shower in the corner is really small and there is also no space for a table. There are no balconies, as the building has not been changed externally, and there is no shared amenity space.
> localization: Located almost opposite Newbury Park station on the edge of the A12, an extremely busy and polluted, six-lane, dual carriageway. > program: 60 studios composed by 18 single studios that range from 13 m2 to 15.6 m2 and 42 doubles from 14.7 m2 to 23.5m2. > typology: Trapezoidal building.
13 m 28 m
> qualitative characteristics: > building characteristics: - Vertical distribution: on the two short sides of the building. - Structure: beams and pillars. - Facade: Curtain wall with windows and opaque panels.
[image 30] - opposite page: Exterior view of the Newbury House (UK).
20m²
opposite page: Type floor plan of the Newbury house after the conversion from office building to residential one.
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Drivers of the conversion
[1] - There have been several attempts in the studies carried out to report all the parameters that could be taken into consideration to verify the potential of a building reconversion. One example is the checklist developed by Van der Voordt T. J. M. and Remøy H. with all the criteria for low transformation potential Find in Van der Voordt T. J. M., Remøy H., "A new life: transformation of vacant office buildings into housing", May 2006, page 6.
Regardless of specific casese, in order to be able to convert a tertiary building to residential use, there must be certain conditions and circumstances. In fact, it is not just a building operation but a complex set of phases and evaluations that place the architectural design, and its material realization, only among its final steps, subordinated to the success of the phases that precede them. After analyzed several case studies, we can try now to summarize and analyze the conditions, and therefore the drivers, which influence in making an office building suitable or not for a possible conversion. 1 In particular, these characteristics can be grouped into some macro-categories and therefore allow the establishment of several guidelines. There are the specific characteristics of the subject of the conversion, and characteristics belonging to the political, economic and social context, in which the intervention is framed. The latter are independent of the chosen subject and are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for the conversion project. Location The good location of the abandoned tertiary heritage can make the conversion project of a building more interesting and therefore with more to be exploited. If the building is located in the inner city or on the edge, it is certainly a plus for new housing developments. x Many buildings located hin disconnected points from the city, difficult to reach by means of transport, and often close to highway roads, have been vacant for a long time and due to their characteristics they are not suitable for housing. In fact, the equipment in terms of private and public transport is very important.This is the case of the Terminus House located in a poorly connected point of Harlow and close to highway roads where air- and sound-pollution is a severe problem. The locations within the urban area are particularly suitable, as well as those on the outskirts as long as they are close to other residential complexes or in neighborhoods characterized by a certain functional mix. The peripheral locations adjacent to motorways and large infrastructures are inconvenient due to poor accessibility, but they can also become interesting when new attempts are made to reconvert the adjacent area. There are places, such as offices / industrial parks, which despite
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the negative characteristics, could be part of a broader conversion process; transforming larger parts of an office area can create an interesting living environment with different users and target groups. Building characteristics When it comes to change of use, that of offices is certainly the space that most naturally adapts to a conversion to residential, due to some physical characteristics that distinguish it. Compared to industrial or commercial spaces, offices are, in fact, designed for the long stay of people, which generally involves greater attention in the original project to technical problems, such as ventilation and lighting, compared to other categories of spaces. However, not all tertiary buildings lend themselves to a potential conversion. Usually, building characteristics do not make conversion impossible, but can influence the financial feasibility substantially. There are morphological, technological, distributive conditions that can complicate the reconversion project to the point of not making it more convenient.
h
- Morphological and typological characters
Very important in the conversion are the shape and volume of the starting building for the purpose of defining the functional program and the quality of the housing units. Office buildings with unusual and irregular shapes are more difficult to adapt than those with large open plan layouts, pre-established to be divided according to variable layouts. As we have seen from the case studies, the types of buildings most suitable for reconversion are tower and slat ones, with particular attention to the size of the standard floor. - Orientation The orientation of a building can greatly influence the potential for reconversion, its ability to capture the sun's rays is a significant advantage that cannot be omitted. It is therefore very important to analyze the arrangement with respect to the trajectory of the sun and also according to its position, in relation to the urban fabric in which it is inserted. An independent building will have more exposed surfaces, with greater control of gains and thermal dispersions by irradiation but also greater heat dispersion in winter. On the contrary, a building inserted inside a building curtain will have a smaller surface irradiated by the sun but greater control of dispersions as it will exploit the most protected environment to
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x
reduce losses. - Structure and floors h
x
The load-bearing structure, which can be of three types: in steel, in reinforced concrete with frame or in reinforced concrete with load-bearing walls, can influence the success of a good conversion. In the former, which is usually rare, there is a great degree of flexibility. Among the last two cases, however, the most usable one is the frame one, which allows a greater planimetric reorganization. We can also find this in all the case studies analyzed, where the structure in the Da Geneeral building was completely exposed. Furthermore, the load-bearing structure and the sizing of the structure influence any possibility of elevation and / or addition of overhangs such as balconies, hooked to it. This is the case of the Lyoner Straße case study by the Stefan Forster Architekten studio, where the original building was raised by three floors. Another important element are the vertical connections which can often influence the conversion, as there are certain fire safety requirements to be respected in the building. - Layout, storey height and depths of the body h
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[2] - Wilkinson S.J., Building Adaptation, in Wilkinson S.J, Remoy H.T., Langston C. (2014), Sustainable building adaptation: innovations in decision making, Wiley Blackwell, Chicheste, 2014.
The planimetric organization of the building is a parameter to underline, in fact, in addition to the size and shape of the standard floor. The properties that have the most characteristics of internal flexibility are therefore obviously the most convenient to convert, especially if they have dry-mounted elements. Another fundamental requirement for the conversion is the compatibility between the height of the building's inter-floor and the requirements of the residential function. Often, however, the presence of false ceilings or floating floors guarantees interfloors even higher than the minimum required by the regulation for the residence, thus not being a problem. The last criterion of this category is the depth of the building, this aspect is very important to ensure the right lighting of all future apartments. According to some researches developed on topic 2 , depth can become an obstacle if it exceeds 15/17 meters. As regards the floors, however, it is necessary to make sure that the existing thermal and acoustic insulation is adequate. -Vertical connections
Another important element in the organization of the internal layout are the lift shafts, which could often be binding for possible future configurations. In fact, we have seen how in the
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em2n architects building the addition of a new riser element has led to a better internal distribution of the building, in fact it may happen that some offices have been designed according to safety regulations that are less stringent than those of the residence. . In this case it may be necessary to add emergency stairs. However, office buildings are usually designed to hold more people than residential ones. For this reason it is usual to have an abundance of connections or escape routes compared to the minimum necessary. The main objective is to reduce the distribution space to a minimum in order to guarantee more space for the apartments. Especially in tower buildings we see how at times the incidence of the nucleus prevails over the floor surface, therefore the reuse of such excess spaces is one of the main themes of the reconversion project. An example is the case at Lyoner Straße by Stefan Forster Architekten, where 2 of the 4 elevators have been eliminated and transformed into space for the residential units or for the vertical shafts. - Façade
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[3] - Remøy, H. T., Vander Voordt, D.J.M., 2014, Adaptive reuse of office buildings: opportunities and risks of conversion into housing. Building Research & Information 42:3, 381-390, page 7.
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The facade plays an important role in the conversion project. In fact, in almost all cases, both for reasons of technological obsolescence and performance, it is completely replaced. This process is generally referred to as "restyling" or "recladding". In most cases of buildings to be converted, the facades are made with the technology of the curtain wall anchored to the outside of the floors and this allows for easy replacement. The issue linked to the adaptability of the envelope is actually mostly reflected in a critical factor for the economic feasibility of the intervention rather than for the technical one, being the processing generally more expensive than the entire intervention, as we read in the article by Remøy, HT & Vander Voordt: "the major cost generator for most office-to-housing conversions is facade-alteration (27% of the total building costs), followed by interior walls (17% of total building costs) and contractor costs" 3. In all the case studies analyzed, the first step was to remove the facade and then proceed with its replacement and also its implementation, with the addition of balconies or loggias. The possibility of adding cantilevered elements should be evaluated on a case by case basis, compatibly with the strength of the existing structures and with the physical characteristics of the floors. - Installations Inside the office buildings the systems are usually considerable and oversized for the function of residence, therefore unsuitable,
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but the spaces where they are installed allow the necessary measures for the arrangement of a new heating and cooling system. Often, however, the presence of forced ventilation represents an exploitable element in the conversion, thus being able to create apartments under 70 m2 with blind bathrooms and internal forced ventilation. In terms of vertical distribution, however, the situation is different and often the existing shafts are not sufficient for future homes. This leads to the use of the elevator space, as in the case of Stefan Forster Architekten in Lyoner Straße. Social aspects Together with the individual aspects concerning the building there are also the social criteria, which contribute most to achieving hthe goal ofx urban regeneration. These underline how the conversion is part of a revitalization strategy of the building itself and thus of part of the city to which it belongs. It is so important to recognize how different urban locations correspond to different types of residences and therefore different targets of possible users. Each group therefore has different needs. It is therefore important to analyze the possible tenants, both to ensure the right mix of tenants inside the building, and to allow adequate integration with the adjacent neighborhoods. Political-regulatory aspetcs
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The political-regulatory aspects are represented by the laws and regulations that define the building and urban planning requirements to be respected in order to carry out the conversion. The first check is that of compatibility with the use of the land defined by the land use or land use plan. In terms of urban planning, it is then necessary to evaluate the parameters and standards to be met. The building-scale regulations relating to the residence must also be respected. Furthermore, there are often policies at the municipal and / or national level that encourage reconversion through inventions and concessions. Therefore, the presence of an apparatus of favorable legal conditions and incentives for transformation greatly affects the economic feasibility of the intervention. Economic-financial aspects
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The economic-financial criteria have a fundamental impact on the conversion of existing buildings, in fact they are often the first factor to be taken into consideration for the conversion of existing
buildings. All items falling within the economic feasibility of the intervention and which generate the "business plan" of an operation must be considered: the current value of the building, the value of the investment, the return on the operation, the increase of value following the transformation, the differences between market values referring to different uses, the costs of construction and development of the project, the convertibility of the building, or the ease of being converted to other uses at low costs. 4 All these elements must be evaluated case by case and must be the object of reasoning to evaluate the total expenditure and the possible gain, because they are elements that can influence the success of an urban strategy. If we want this strategy to work, we must therefore try to create better conditions so that the owners of the buildings consider this conversion possible and convenient and can invest in various future interventions that can guarantee an increase in residences on the market and new redeveloped spaces in Milan. Taking a cue from other cities, such as the most current case study in Paris, we can think of new strategies that encourage a possible conversion of office buildings that have been abandoned for some time.
[4] - Wilkinson S.J., Building Adaptation, in Wilkinson S.J, Remoy H.T., Langston C. (2014), Sustainable building adaptation: innovations in decision making, Wiley Blackwell, Chicheste, 2014.
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Recap
Following the analysis of the available case studies, what emerges is how this process of conversion from office buildings to residences has already been experienced in the world. We can therefore draw numerous aspects from these cases in order to favor a future field of reconversion also in the city of Milan. As we have seen, it is essential to know what are the opportunities, the possible disadvantages and the risks. Above all it is necessary to understand what are the factors to be taken into consideration to select the buildings to be converted and implement a process that has a positive feedback. Therefore, only after having established all the conditions and criteria that most influence the success of the conversion projects, it is possible to look at the Milanese scenario to select within it the functional elements for the development of a strategy that can be effective on an urban scale. First of all, on the basis of typological and localization drivers, it is necessary to define a taxonomy of disused tertiary buildings, then to identify the target of the transformations and therefore the future users, analyzing the housing demand, finally in economic-financial terms it is then important to analyze who are the actors involved in this process and what are their interests. To reach the goal, several factors and conditions are required that we have seen previously. Il would also be essential to create favorable conditions for the owners of the properties, thus trying to insert new facilities and / or incentives as in the case of Paris, where the administration is sector employees have begun to think seriously about an incentive policy for reconversion. However, we must be careful not to implement too open policies so as not to repeat the possible mistake that was made in the UK. As we have seen, in fact, the new legislations have led to the realization of numerous conversions aimed only at the profit of those who have invested. Without even caring of the quality of living that these future residences should possess in order to permit a good future for its inhabitants.
[image 31] Opposite page: Photo of the complex of towers of Stephenson area.
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