From a stately home at the beginning of the 19th century to a company building and atelier of the famous tailor Gianni Campagna at the beginning of the new millennium, Palazzo Bernasconi is a splendid example of a representative building in the heart of Milan, 5000 square meters of prestigious rooms chosen by Casa Cipriani to host its new high-profile and exclusive Milan hotel, inaugurated on 21 September with a soft opening in preparation for the official launch on 1 October.
In the best Milanese tradition, the building and the intensive renovation project carried out by BMS Progetti are truly revealed and discovered once the entrance threshold is crossed: in accordance with the criteria of conservation and insertion in the central and historical context of the city, the external envelope towards the Indro Montanelli public gardens and Corso Venezia has been restored and enhanced, and the main interventions concerned in particular the internal façade with a new essential and contemporary architectural element in glass and golden aluminum, which has considerably improved the flexibility of the layouts of the various floors, and the roofs with a unity of language with the existing materials and volumes, to enhance the excellent panoramic position in the city center and free the historic copper roofs from machinery and superfetations.
The ambitious and demanding integrated design work, conducted from the due diligence phase to commissioning, which involved more than 15 designers and technicians and involved more than 25,000 hours of work over 4 years, was carried out in coordination with several other specialists and consultants. The internal layouts have been optimized for the new hospitality use and refined by the interior design project of Studio Michele Bönan which took care of the suites, the restaurant, the hall and the Arrigo bar, and by the design by Carlos Almada for the club on the fourth floor, with advice from the Studio Voltaire for lighting design and from the Studio Montanari for food & beverage. Particular attention was paid to the inclusion of new lift systems to improve the usability of the premises by customers and service personnel.
The goal of achieving a result of excellence and prestige did not concern only volumes and surfaces but involved the entire structure of the building, both for energy performance, with high-tech machinery for significant MEP requirements and total insulation of the historical envelope, and for the very high standards of environmental and acoustic comfort, achieved thanks to the specialistic design by Viva Consulting, above all for the isolation of the underground SPA area from the nearby subway line. The SPA and wellness area was designed by Studio Apostoli, and includes a salt cave whose machinery was placed in the new basement built under the existing foundations.
BMS Progetti worked in strong synergy with the owner, Merope Asset Management, to set up the project, and with the tenant, Cipriani Milano, to develop and calibrate it in order to best respond to their requests. Casa Cipriani therefore finds space in a historic and at the same time modern and efficient building, built with an ambitious project that aims to achieve the highest possible results in terms of aesthetics, performance and comfort, all to meet the needs of a very exclusive hotel business. These results were obtained thanks to the care, attention and respect that the existing building deserved, having set a discreet, measured, refined register.
