The intervention is located along the Naviglio Grande in the area where Richard Ginori's first ceramic factory was established in 1830. Following some financial misadventures in the 1970s, the production activities were gradually decommissioned and a period of abandonment began. After a few years a process of reconversion and recovery and in some cases demolition and reconstruction was triggered, this is the case of the towers along Giulio Richard Avenue.
The complex took shape in the 1990s, and consists of seven office blocks. The outermost ones and the central one are lower, while the others counting eighteen floors above ground assume a certain prominence in the skyline of the area. Aesthetically, the complex is configured without any connection to the area and indeed resembles similar complexes existing in other Milanese areas.
Moreover, specifically, these similarly constructed buildings at some of the access points to the city, aggravated by their state of almost total abandonment, are the manifestation of an intense and often decontextualized expansion from the surrounding urban fabric. Therefore, this is an important opportunity to rethink these building complexes by giving them a greater identity through the use of a language more akin to the city's architectural and urban planning culture.
Needing to completely rethink two of the tallest towers, hoping that they may dictate the guidelines for future interventions on the adjacent buildings, the project envisages a revalorization starting from the ground attachment, going on to redefine its relationship with the street, with a basement characterized by a double-height covered porch that allows a filtered space between the street and the actual entrance to the building. On a volumetric and compositional level, the joining element embraces the existing foot of the building, regularizing its geometry and creating a new compact front between tower and basement.
The façade system is marked by a vertical wall mesh that dialogues with the corner structural elements and converges at the top to create a true crowning to allow integration with the signs of the company that will use the building. The new facade consists of two elements, the solid pilaster and the window frame, which alternate in a regular rhythm, creating a constant modularity horizontally throughout the tower. An attempt was made to achieve a compact and monolithic effect that would harmonize with the neighboring towers but at the same time denounce the desire for change and modernization, a masonry facade, which seeks a simple design consisting of few meticulous details.
The partial demolition of the existing perimeter parapet with the extension of the transparent part of the glazed facade makes it possible to achieve a high value of energy efficiency and comfort of the interior space.
The cladding of the exterior staircase with a perforated sheet metal enhances the southwest facade and makes it possible to conceal the visible systems, realizing a new geometry that is more integrated with the building's massing.
Thanks to the overall energy efficiency, it is possible to create a new floor on the top of the building, with related terraces and panoramic loggias contained within the tower outline.
