BRINDISI WATERFRONT

The design of the residential complex seeks a symbiosis between architecture and landscape and a synthesis of artificial and natural elements that together create a high quality of life and a sense of belonging and pride among residents. The interface between the building and the garden becomes a field where interaction between man and environment takes place. This interface is defined by the "C" form of the complex (which encompasses the public garden), and by a porosity and blurring of boundaries between the inside and outside spaces that characterises all 107 apartments.

The building has two different facades: the one facing the street is more urban, whereas the one facing the inner courtyard garden is more organic. The design of the urban facade features a varied composition of white projecting volumes in which the different units stimulate a sense of belonging. These projecting balconies feature two layers of vertical wooden lattice screens of different widths that slide across the balconies and control the amount of natural light and sunlight entering the apartment. The organic facade overlooking the central garden features double-glazed bioclimatic greenhouses or winter gardens. The coplanarity between the glass of the greenhouse space and the glass balustrade creates a kaleidoscopic effect where the different layers of glass become either transparent or mirrored and reflect back the public garden. This strong relationship between outside and inside is further reinforced by the geometry of the building, which tapers in and out for optimal solar exposure and to increase privacy for residents when they are out on the external balconies.

The winter garden has a dual role: environmentally it provides a buffer zone, which allows thermal regulation; architecturally it extends the interior living space into the exterior landscape (and vice versa) allowing for different uses as the seasons change. The overlapping of different green layers creates a holistic natural landscape that is directly and personally customised by each resident. The porous nature of the Milanofiori residential complex reflects the constantly changing developments in contemporary living and is designed as an evolving organism in a perpetual state of change, stimulating the dynamic exchange between architecture and nature and the interaction between man and environment.

Nomadism and sedentarism.
In contemporary life the house has become a place we leave from and return to. This means that sedentary and nomadic attitudes coexist in our everyday experience. To express this duality, it is not enough to think only in terms of housing types that meet the most varied requirements of all possible users. Instead, a paradigm shift is needed, reversing the direction of the discussion: from the house as an object to the inhabitant as the subject.

Living in the garden.
Breaking free from the presence of the hypertrophic “house”, the design of the dwelling is the expression of the site as a whole, rather than a physical place. This is not simply blurring the distinction between inside / outside, but finding the continuum in which space and time are unified in one entity that cannot be separated. In the garden space and time are unified, they become continuous, recovering - evoking - the essential meaning of living in the sense of “taking care”.

From collective complex to “polyvalent interconnected system”.
The project tries to go beyond the concept of "Unité" (d'Habitation) in favour of a polyvalent system that breaks down the usual separation between housing and workplace imposed by industrial civilization and embraces new models of relations and transversality.

Awards:
2012 WAN Awards Residential, London
2012 Green Good Design Award, Chicago

2011 LEAF overall winner, London
2011 LEAF Awards, Residential Building of the Year, London
2010 European 40 Under 40, Madrid

Photos:
Mariela Apollonio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Michele Nastasi: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

OBR design team:
Paolo Brescia e Tommaso Principi
Chiara Pongiglione
Francois Doria
Laura Anichini
Silvia Becchi
Antonio Bergamasco
Paolo Caratozzolo Nota
Giulia D’Ettorre
Julissa Gutarra
Leonardo Mader
Elena Mazzocco
Margherita Menardo
Paolo Salami
Izabela Sobieraj
Paula Vier
Francesco Vinci
Fabio Valido
Barbara Zuccarello

Project team:
OBR S.r.l.
Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.p.A.
Studio Ti S.r.l.
Buro Happold Ltd

Site surveyor:
Favero & Milan Ingegneria S.p.A. Alessandro Bonaventura

Project management:
P&P S.r.l.
Luigi Pezzoli

Client:
Milanofiori 2000 S.r.l.
Gruppo Cabassi

Location:
Assago, Milano, Italy

Dimensions:
slp 15.080 sqm

Contractor:
Marcora S.p.A. – Cile S.p.A.

Chronology:
2010 Realized
2007 Construction documents
2006 Definitive project
2005 Preliminary design
2005 Design competition (1st prize)