CityLife (Milan)

Coordinates: 45°28′32″N 9°09′11″E / 45.475661°N 9.153178°E / 45.475661; 9.153178

Torre Isozaki The Straight One Allianz Tower
General information
Status	Topped-out
Type	Mixed use
Architectural style	Modern
Location	Milan, Italy
Construction started	2012
Opening	2015
Height
Roof	207 m (679 ft) 247 m (810 ft) (with broadcast antenna)
Technical details
Floor count	50
Design and construction
Architect	Arata Isozaki & Associates, Andrea Maffei (architect)

CityLife is a residential and business district under construction in a short distance from the old city centre of Milan, Italy.

The development is being carried out by CityLife SpA, a company controlled by Generali Group, that won the international tender for the redevelopment of the historic neighborhood of Fiera Milano with an offer of €523 million. The project is designed by architects Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid.

The project involves the construction of three skyscrapers, with dedicated areas for offices, stores, restaurants and services. The luxury residential area will cover about 164,000 m² (1,770,000 sq ft), with around 1,300 apartments (housing about 4,500 people). In addition, more than 50% of the available area, 168,000 m² (1,810,000 sq ft), will be devoted to a park characterized by a landscape that evokes the geography of Lombardy. There will also be underground parking space for around 5,000 vehicles. Further to the existing public transportation network, the CityLife area will be served by a new extension of the metro line 5, currently under construction, with a dedicated station at the centre of the “Piazza Tre Torri”. Work on the project started in 2007.

History

The new exhibition centre in Rho-Pero opened in 2005, 85 years after the first Trade Fair in April 1920. The Fiera’s move outside Milan benefitted the city by eliminating traffic problems caused by big events and by freeing up a highly valuable area. An international tender for the redevelopment of the old Fiera area, seeking to create an unprecedented level of connectivity with the surrounding urban context, concluded in 2004. The CityLife project won the competition due to the high level of architectural and environmental quality it offered.

The 20 exhibition halls, with a total volume of about 2.5 million cubic metres, were demolished and submit to remediation in 2007 and 2008. Painstaking efforts were made to protect and recover the area’s stock of trees, 120 of which were saved and relocated in the public parks over Milan. Since 2007 a Permanent Environmental Observatory has worked to protect the surrounding districts. Administered by local public authorities, it controls the noise, dust and environmental impact during all stages of construction, using among other things, sound-absorbing and dust protective.

Skyscrapers

Torre Isozaki / The Straight One / Allianz Tower

Torre Isozaki ("Il Dritto) is currently one of the tallest buildings in Italy at 207 m (679 ft) - 247 m (810 ft) (with broadcast antenna)^[1] - and with its 50 floors is the tallest to the roof. It was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, who is renowned in Italy for the design of the Palasport Olimpico in Turin.^[2]

Torre Hadid / The Twisted One / Generali Tower

Torre Hadid ("Lo Storto") will be 175 m (574 ft) high with 44 floors. The building rises vertically with a dynamic, twisting shape.^[3] Its designer is the Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid.^[4]

Torre Libeskind / The Curved One

Torre Libeskind ("Il Curvo") will reach a height of 168 m (551 ft) with 34 floors. It has been conceived as part of an ideal sphere that surrounds Piazza Tre Torri and will be flanked by the two other skyscrapers. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind.^[5]

Residences

Hadid Residences

Situated in the south-east part of this area the Hadid Residences ^[6] have been designed by Zaha Hadid and are composed of seven buildings.

Libeskind Residences

The Libeskind Residences^[7] are designed by Daniel Libeskind. They are composed of eight buildings situated in the south-west part of the area. They will both feature prestigious apartments overlooking the park. These residences will benefit from all the facilities of the futuristic urban planning system.

Park Tower

The residential tower, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is planned.

Culture

Palazzo delle Scintille

The former Pavilion 3 of Fiera Milano City, which is located in Viale Cassiodoro with a total area of 15,500 sqm, is under reconstruction. The Palace which opened for the Motor Show in 1923, was one of the first buildings to see the light in the emerging Fiera Milano exhibition district, it will become Palazzo delle Scintelle, a place for culture, as fashion and design exhibitions at international level.

Green Areas

CityLife Park

With an area of about 170,000 sqm, it includes cycling and walking paths. It also completes the group of parks in the north-west of Milan, with Parco Sempione and the park of Porta Nuova Business District. The international competition for the design of the park was proclaimed in 2010 and was won by the architectural studios: Gustafson Porter (United Kingdom), Melk, One Works and Ove Arup.

References

External links

• CityLife
• Fiera Milano