Piuarch

Like some sort of sinuous, white wave, the Porta Nuova Building fits in with the master plan for the urban redevelopment of the old railway station in Porta Nuova, Milan, situat­ed between Corso Como, Garibaldi Station, the Isola neighbourhood and Piazza della Re­pubblica. This huge structure extends over a distance of 140 metres to create a structure covering a total of 16,500 m² designed for holding offices and shops. This powerful and, at the same time, lightweight, white coloured, glazed building serves a fundamental “urban purpose”: it hinges together the existing city and the latest dynamics triggered off by the entire Porta Nuova project, falling in line with the heights of the old buildings and embrac­ing the square that is set higher level than the surrounding roads.
This block is the only low building in the entire project, but its sinuosity allows it to interact with both the old city and new towers: leav­ing its own powerful and recognisable trace in contrast with the high levels of the over­all master plan. Set on a transparent podi­um connecting the two realms of the city by means of a flight of steps constructed out of a central cut through its structure, the building is also an access point to the large square.
The horizontal white shell encompassing the four upper floors holding offices is set above the transparent podium accommodat­ing showrooms and retail spaces. The shell overhangs the square for two purposes: to protect the large retail portico below and to become a terraced deck for the buildings on the first level.
A positional study designed to create a comfortable work­place and the different urban contexts that the north elevation and south elevation over­look has led to the creation of two different facades that interact with the city in differ­ent ways. The south elevation, which faces towards the old city with its curvy, sinuous outline, has rectangular windows covered by a system of sunscreens made from vertical sheets of silkscreened glass. The north ele­vation, which, on the other hand, opens up towards new Gae Aulenti square, has a stag­gered facade set across the various floors with large glass windows acting as a kind of theatrical backdrop to the pedestrian area and the park planned to accommodate the Porta Nuova Library of Trees.