By Formerly Vacant Lot in Milan Wins Reinventing Cities Contest With Vineyard on a Building Linked to City Sidewalk
The new headquarters of the ICOM molecular and cancer research center will be located within 5,000 square meters of green public spaces, including a 650-foot-long vineyard.
The vines will wind their way up the side of the Milan building on a shallow ramp, and act as the centerpiece of a path that begins at the street and reaches the ceiling as part of an effort to connect humans in back cities. to the nature.
It’s all part of the VITAE project of the architecture studio Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA), which won first place in the C40 Reinventing Cities competition for its design that includes outdoor spaces, the ICOM center, a farm-to-table restaurant , a high-tech office. space, and even greenhouses.
The spiral of terraced greenery, including the vineyards and hydroponic gardens, is what gave the project its name, a Latin word for “life” and “vine.”
This grand design will be built in the south of Milan on an abandoned post-industrial-era lot on Via Serio, and construction started in 2019.
“VITAE attempts to address humanity’s innate ‘biophilia’, as formulated by the great American biologist Edward O. Wilson,” said Saverio Panata, CRA partner and VITAE project manager. Live.
“We are talking about the natural tendency of our species to seek our happiness through immersion in nature. Thanks to new technologies, it is now possible to achieve this goal even in the heart of the city; this is particularly relevant in a building dedicated to scientific research ”.
A curriculum vitae
The building is all about green. In addition to containing the double helix DNA-inspired walkway, 95% of the energy will come from renewable sources, including geothermal and photovoltaic solar panels.
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A rainwater harvesting and gray water reclamation facility will ensure the building wastes as little water as possible, while low-carbon construction strategies and electric mobility solutions will continue to remove CO2 from the balance sheet.
The Serious project, according to C40, is coming up in the Scalo Romana area of the city, an older and partially run-down area that is undergoing regeneration through new ideas in architecture and urban planning.
The Prada Foundation art complex is located in Scalo Romana, and is now one of the most important art sites in the city, while Serio will be located less than two miles from the Duomo.
A disused 20-hectare (54-acre) railway yard, the Porta Romana, is one of the most important areas for future innovation and development in the city, and is located just 250 meters from the Serio VITAE building, which puts you at the heart of the city’s regenerative efforts.
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