by Studio Marco Piva / Milan, Italy

Renovation and expansion of the historic Hotel in the heart of Milano.

The renovation and expansion of the historic Hotel Excelsior Gallia in the heart of Milan is part of the wider urban redevelopment of Piazza Duca D’Aosta, following the recent completion of the modernization works at the Central Station. An international investment fund from Qatar has acquired the hotel, which consists of a 1930s building and an extension dating from the early 1960s known as Pirelli Wing, with the intention of turning it into a five star luxury hotel. The architectural project was awarded to Studio Marco Piva, while the structural and plant projects were assigned to Arup. The challenge is a considerable one: to restore the accommodation facility, to its past splendour, in the search for a balance between the old and the new within a dynamic relationship of shapes, spaces and materialsm in connection with the modern architecture of the urban surroundings. The project concept is a reference to the Milan lifestyle, to the unique set of dynamic elements that have always been a feature of the life of the city. The Hotel Excelsior Gallia was frequented for many years by journalists and writers, hosted meetings of Italy’s football community for decades, and was often used as a film or television set. The project to renovate and extend the Hotel Excelsior Gallia is divided into two separate but coordinated phases. The first phase includes the restoration and functional recovery of the 1930s building, the Excelsior Hotel Gallia, which was built to accommodate travellers arriving in Milan thanks to the new Central Station. The historic building is richly decorated, with caryatids and mascarons made by using a moulding technique with a mixture of cement and aggregates. These decorative elements, like all the historic façades, have been completely restored. The steel structures built in the 1990s have been restored to  accommodate an exclusive restaurant, an event space and an enormous Royal Suite with a private spa, The new building is being developed adjacent to the historic building, and will replace the four structures that had previously been located at the side of the hotel and connected to all the floors of the historic building, and will run from Piazza Duca D’Aosta to Via Galvani and Via Filzi. It will be built around an internal courtyard, and will include a host of new features: a centre for meetings, conferences and exhibitions on the ground floor, and a large spa on the sixth and seventh floors, with swimming pool, gym, saunas, hammam and a wellness centre. The seventh floor will also have a bar with a panoramic terrace. All these spaces will be easily accessible, even by hotel non-residents, thanks to the new high-speed lifts located in the large new ground floor lobby. It will be a single morphological structure extending harmoniously along three sides, creating a ground-floor area which is functionally interrelated with its surroundings and creates a powerful osmosis with the city. The façade of the new building is transparent and light. It will consist of 142 cm wide modules, divided into three sections, with two blind sides and an opening glass panel, which will have an inner glass balaustrade to transmit light; this element is intended to recall the small balconies, almost flush with the façades, that can be found in many historical buildings in Milan. The ground floor will have floor-to-ceiling windows to convey a sense of transparency and to offer optimal levels of interaction with the city and the surroundings. The sixth and seventh floors, which house a spa, a swimming pool, an extended fitness area and a restaurant and rooftop bar, will be located inside a light glass space, a glass curtain which will light up spectacularly in the evening. The interiors of the new Hotel Excelsior Gallia will be created with great attention being paid to the choice of materials, textures and details, and there will be powerful references to design, with a nod to the timeless elegance of Art Deco being added in the shapes and ambiences. The interior façades of the new building will be lined with basalt facings. LED lighting systems will be used for both the exteriors and interiors so as to ensure a longer life for the systems and therefore less maintenance, with consequent substantial energy and cost savings.

Project partner:

» TECNARIA Spa