This building is distinguished by the burnished colour finish of the metal structures on the facade, the tinted glass of the curtain wall system, the brown paintwork and the smaller volume used as a residential unit. During its heyday, the building would have been considered modern and technologically advanced. However, in its contemporary condition, many of its undeniably fascinating aspects have proved to be uneconomical particularly in terms of energy saving.

Via Turati Refurbishment Project, image courtesy Park Associati

The new owner has decided to redesign the building respecting the original layout. The design choice has been to recuperate the ground floor and to reassign its generous amount of unused space to commerce (although part of the central green area is kept), and to aim at a new distribution and increased flexibility of the internal office spaces.

Via Turati Refurbishment Project, image courtesy Park Associati

Particular attention has been paid to the system of façades. By shifting back the perimeter façades of the building, it has been possible to gain approximately 360 sq m of overall floor space. This result has also been achieved by creating of a glass skin of variable modules that is able to recompose, like a soft and transparent sheet, the new distribution of the spaces of the ground floor, now accessed via a single entrance. At the end of the whole process of redefining the façades, all of the same style and height, it was decided to emphasize the overhang of the roof, adjusting it to the dimensions of the redevelopment.

Via Turati Refurbishment Project - Site plan, drawing courtesy Park Associati

Via Turati Refurbishment Project -Wall sections, drawing courtesy Park Associati

+ Project credits / data

Project: Refurbishment of a office building, Via Turati, Milano
Location: Via Turati, Milano, Italy
Area: slp 7988.84 mq
Dates:
2008 – competition
2011 – on site
December 2011 expected date of completition

Architectural Project and site supervision:  Park Associati (Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi)
Team members:
Andrea Dalpasso, Project Manager
Marco Panzeri, Project Manager
Alice Cuteri, Marco Siciliano, Paolo Uboldi, Marinella Ferrari, Stefano Lanotte, Marco Sicilian

Client: Morgan Stanley Sgr S.p.A.

Structure engineering:
General Planning
Via Vigoni 8, 20122 Milano

Project Management:
ECHarris Built Asset Consultancy
Via Albricci 9, 20122 Milano

General Contractor:
Mangiavacchi e Pedercini S.p.A.
Via Banfi 10, 20122 Milano

LEED Consulting:
Habitech Distretto Tecnologico Trentino S.c.a.r.l.
Piazza Manifattura 1, 38068 Rovereto (TN)

+ All images and drawings courtesy Park Associati

I believe you’ve got Edition29 ARCHITECTURE on your Ipad, Edition29 has just released another new iPad app: Edition29 STRUCTURES. This new iPad magazine series focuses on incredibly interesting structures from around the world. This first issue includes interviews with noteworthy new architects such as Neil Denali and the HL23 in NYC. The highlight of this Issue are the two amazing short films by Associate Editor Vitor Gabriel from Portugal, one is the Paula Rego Museum by 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Eduardo Souto de Moura and the elevated pedestrian bridge by architect João Luís Carrilho Da Graça.

Let’s take 10 second look at all 123 pages of this issue.

+ Edition29 STRUCTURE for iPad

Edition29 team is offering a FREE TRIAL ISSUE of its latest publication, Edition29 STRUCTURES to celebrate its first record-breaking year of publishing on Apple’s amazing iPad.  Edition29 STRUCTURES Issue 001 lets the creators of great edifices tell us about their work through landscapes of great imagery. This Issue is in keeping with the Edition29 Architecture editorial Issues featuring modern structures from the far corners of the globe. In this Issue we take a look at Los Angeles architect Neil Denari and his condominium tower near the High Line in Manhattan. Wrapped in metal that was formed in Argentina and with glass shaped in China, this imported structure is an all American tale. Denari took a forgotten piece of unbuildable property and created a structure that cohabits with and strengthens its surroundings.

+ The app is available from iTunes store.

Courteys Edition29

Courteys Edition29

Courteys Edition29

Courteys Edition29

The new Cultural Center in Ranica, medieval town near Bergamo in Northern Italy, contains a public library, an auditorium, a kindergarten, and a school for dance and theater.

New Cultural Center in Ranica, image courtesy Alessandra Bello

With its 2.000 square meters, the Center is conceived as a new catalyst of urban life. Not only is the building a laboratory for education and information, but it also becomes a new "piazza" where people can meet and where citizens can reinforce their sense of belonging to their territory.

New Cultural Center in Ranica, image courtesy Alessandra Bello

The site where the building rises, located midway between the city center and an area of urban growth, is destined to turn into an important hub. The building represents a sort of threshold between the scale of the city and the scale of the surrounding territory.

New Cultural Center in Ranica, image courtesy Alessandra Bello

New Cultural Center in Ranica, image courtesy Alessandra Bello

Aim of this project is to trigger a dialogue between the new building, the city center and the infrastructural system. If historically piazzas are defined by the visual and physical boundaries of the buildings surrounding them, in this project we tried to open up the building to city life by welcoming pedestrians into its core, under the large overhanging volume. The large slab is pierced by a series of openings, along its perimeter -next to the main entrances- as well as in the middle, where two large courtyards bring natural light and fresh air.

South East elevation

The building is organized on two floors: the upper volume is cantilivered out from the lower floor, and seems to be floating above ground. The distinction between the two volumes is made even stronger by means of the choice of materials: the ground floor is enclosed by glazed and stuccoed walls, while the facades of the upper volume are made of colored, sometimes semi-opaque polycarbonate panels which allow for silhouettes of people inside the building to be revealed outside.

New Cultural Center in Ranica, image courtesy Alessandra Bello

The compactness of the exterior volumes is coupled by a complexity of the interiors. In the wide double-height space of the library, the various program areas appear as independent volumes, connected by aerial catwalks from which visitors can constantly appreciate the central patio. The idea was to create a scenario where the links between the program areas could turn into pleasant meeting points, similarly to what happens in the streets and piazzas in the city.

New Cultural Center in Ranica - Ground floor plan, drawing courtesy DAP studio & Paola Giaconia

New Cultural Center in Ranica - First floor plan, drawing courtesy DAP studio & Paola Giaconia

+ Project credits / data

Project: New Cultural Center in Ranica
Architects: DAP studio & Paola Giaconia
Location: Bergamo, Italy
Typology: Cultural
Photographer: Alessandra Bello

+ About  DAP studio & Paola Giaconia

DAP studio | www.dapstudio.com

DAP studio was founded in 1992 in Milan by Elena Sacco and Paolo Danelli, graduates from the Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. Their office has been working for public and private clients, on architectural projects which range in scale from interiors to houses to libraries. In the last few years they have focused especially on the design of cultural institutions. They couple their design activity with the management and development of cultural projects. DAP studio participated in the 12th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, in the Italian Pavillion, and were nominated for the 2011 Mies van der Rohe award. In 2009 they received a mention at the Golden Medal Prize for Italian Architecture.

Paola Giaconia | www.paolagiaconia.com

Paola Giaconia graduated with honors in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. Recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, she received her Master's Degree in Architecture from SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) in Los Angeles, where she then worked for Morphosis studio. She couples her activity as a designer with scholarly research: she is visiting professor at California State University and at Kent State University, Florence programs. Paola has been lecturing on contemporary architecture and participating at round tables at various cultural institutions and schools of architecture. She contributes to the most important Italian architectural magazines. Her articles and essays have been published in “Abitare”, “Domus”, “Ottagono” and “Rassegna”. She is co-editor, with Marco Brizzi, of the catalogues of the last two editions of the BEYOND MEDIA festival (INTIMACY and SCRIPT), and curator, since 2003, of the “SPOT ON SCHOOLS” exhibition. Her monograph on Eric Owen Moss (Eric Owen Moss. The Uncertainty of Doing) was published by Skira in 2006.

+ All images and drawings courtesy DAP studio & Paola Giaconia | Photo by Alessandra Bello