by Mario Cucinella Architects/ Milan, Italy

Coima Headquarters  - Porta Nuova Milano

Milan – Italy, 2013 – under construction project.  The project proposal for the new COIMA Headquarters completes the area of Porta Nuova - Varesine placing two objectives: it is firstly a highly representative intervention to support the directional activities of the area and secondly it connects the urban fabric with the adjacent park being both the access door and the scenic backdrop of the park. Starting on this point of view, the project explores the theme of synthesis between 'natural' and 'artificial' under the environmental and shaping theme. The comparison between the scale of the intervention and the existing volumes suggested the search for a solution characterized by a strong aesthetic and volumetric unity. The new building, with its 2,300 square meters of gross, was conceived as a unique example in which simplicity, rhythm and essentiality - that are features of a great architectural culture in Milan - are the born principles of the complex: a transparent greenhouse on the edge of the park, enclosed on the northern and southern sides of two sheets of bark, which define the spatial and material perception.  The image of the bark is achieved thanks to the two systems of laminated wood beams that enclose and protect the volume of glass and steel, emphasizing the continuity between interior and exterior defined by alternating of full and empty spaces. The regular repetition of the wood vertical elements, along the two paths towards north and south, continues over the west front, freeing and opening up the adjacent public space.

The intention is not to propose another "character" in a place where the present architectures are already strong and full of symbolism but to create a project that could be flexible and reconfigurable alternately in offices and commercial spaces, emphasizing the relationship between the external and internal environments: in particular is taken advantages of the adjacency to the north with the park through a square that becomes the portal of access to and from it.

Credits

Location: Milan, Italy

Year: 2013 – under construction project

Type: Invited design competition - joint winner along with the studio of the architect Michele de Lucchi.

Client: COIMA SGR S.p.A. per conto del “Fondo Porta Nuova Garibaldi”

Surface: 2.400 sqm

Project: Mario Cucinella Architects

Team: Mario Cucinella, Julissa Gutarra (Artistic Administration), Riccardo Minghini, Alberto Menozzi, Enrico Pintabona, Daniele Morelli, Luca Stramigioli, Rachid Hicheri, Yuri Costantini (model maker); Concept: Luca Sandri, Alberto Casarotto, Alberto Bruno, Giuseppe Perrone

Consultants: MSC (structures), Studio Ariatta (facilities), gruppo C14 (casing lighting), J&A (consultants)

Rendering: Engram Studio; MIR;  gruppo C14