In Vendita
ELLE Building / Milan
2020
Location: Milan
Year of acquisition: 2020
Project status: venduto
Works status: concluso
Credits: project. 02 Arch; Ph. Mattia Aquila
"Romantic and retro, the gallery building changes face, renews itself, but does not lose its charm."
"ELLE Building" is located in Milan between via Lattanzio and via Colletta.DESCRIPTION:
A characteristic, Milanese, trendy home, in via Lattanzio, a well-served and lively area of the city of Milan. The project of via Lattanzio n.2, called "ELLE Building", in the Municipio 4 in Milan, is part of the broader regeneration plan of the Municipality, called "Milan 2030", created with the aim of regenerating and mending the urban fabric of the existing city. The client is Borgosesia Spa, a company listed on the Mta market of the Italian Stock Exchange and active in the field of value regeneration in the context of distressed operations of a predominantly real estate nature. The corner building between Via Lattanzio and Via Colletta, never completed and abandoned since 2009 due to financial problems, has been a danger to public safety, health and security for years and a nuisance for urban decorum and quality. In 2019, an enlightened client group, very attentive to the architectural and urban theme, decided to intervene, recovering the building to transform it, restoring urban quality to one of the areas that will change most for the better in the coming years. In fact, the area where the operation is located is at the center of important architectural and urban transformations, such as the Fondazione Prada, the new Symbiosis business center, the new A2A HQ skyscraper, the new office and residential developments in the Viale Ortles area, focused on the redevelopment of Scalo di Porta Romana, a project that includes the creation of a large park connecting the subway to Fondazione Prada, a green high-line above the railway tracks, the Olympic village, the recovery of historic buildings and the new constructions on the Brembo side that will transform Piazzale Lodi into a real city square. The recovery works of the property, which began in the summer of 2019, were completed at the end of 2020, concluding all the sales of the apartments within those terms and therefore exceeding the time and quality objectives set by the client company. An interesting choice by the client was to use the crowdfunding platform ‘concrete investing’ to finance part of the intervention. The initiative was very successful, so much so that it reached the maximum collection target of 1,500,000, with a final annual IRR return of 10.08% and a ROI of 12.75% after fifteen months. The design and redesign of the building were entrusted to the Milanese studio 02arch, founded by Ettore Bergamasco and Andrea Starr Stabile. Starting from the existing conditions of a building left half-finished, the architects were able to grasp its formal character and, by making some compositional changes, give it a new reading and interpretation. The building consists of two buildings parallel to Via Lattanzio and Via Colletta, connected to each other by a common external staircase, which acts as a compositional fulcrum. The play of the two volumes, on Via Lattanzio with four floors above ground plus an attic and on Via Colletta with seven floors plus attic, is interrupted by a void passing through the sixth floor that allows the large loggia to simultaneously enjoy the view of Via Colletta and the shared garden located in the internal courtyard. Inside the volumes there are fifteen residential units in the form of two-room, three-room and duplex apartments, all with large outdoor spaces. The project starts from the reinterpretation of Milanese residential architecture, recalling the Milanese tradition of the house with a gallery in the design of the distribution space. The garden hidden in the internal courtyard follows that peculiarity of a beautiful Milan hidden behind closed doors. On the outside, however, the project - taking up Milanese rationalism, in the wake of great masters such as Asnago and Vender, Caccia Dominioni and Gio Ponti - designs a facade characterized by the careful alternation of empty and full spaces, by the joints, the alignments and the windows; the choice of cladding material also takes up the Milanese tradition with Ceppo di Grè. Peculiar elements are the brass cages that compositionally link the loggias and the openings and visually break the horizontality of the lower body and the verticality of the tall one. The same game, made possible by the cage elements, is repeated on the internal fronts, framing the balconies that overlook the garden of the internal courtyard. Finally, the warm element of wood is added, which embraces the central body of the stairs and frames some openings, helping to outline the new compositional rhythm of the façade and which, through a system of brise-soleil and climbing vegetation, restores the contemporary appearance. The project also represents a model of contemporary co-living, in which the boundary between private and shared space merges and expands into common areas, specifically designed and equipped both for the comfort and relaxation of the inhabitants and to meet the needs of young professionals, according to a contemporary and advanced home-office model. In fact, on the first floor, facing the secret garden, there are three spaces common to the inhabitants of the building, intended for a gym, co-working and multifunctional space, which become an opportunity for socializing. Even outside, the project aims to have a strong social function of integration and aggregation, through the spaces equipped with shared lounges.
