02-ReCoDe_viale Certosa

Case Study: Viale Certosa ItredĂŹ Studio, 2006

Re Co.De!

reshaping contemporary dwelling Luca Borlenghi Valentina Cattaneo Beatrice Colombo Ulisse Martelli Valentina Pioltelli

Thematic Design Studio - BA Architectural Design AUIC School - Politecnico di Milano A.A. 2016/17 Proff.Massimo Bricocoli,Giovanni Hanninen,Gennaro Postiglione + Rodrigo Pemjean and Arch. Francesco Conti, Sofia Coutsoucos, Michele Ignaccolo, Maria Kapitonova, Salvatore Pirina

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Architect Francesco Dolce, ItredĂŹ Studio Construction company Bertelli Costruzioni Location Viale Certosa 295, Milan Construction period 2007 Status Unifinished Typology Residential complex Floor area 2300 sqm

Index The neighbourhood

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The Real Estate Context: crisis and challenges

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Interview

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The Original project

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The building: actual situation

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The Neighbourhood The building is located a few blocks from the so called “Cimitero Maggiore”, the largest cemetery in the city. More precisely, the building is at 295 Viale Certosa, one of the main arterial road of Milan.

Even though neither subways or trains reach directly the area, it is extremely well connected to the rest of the city thanks to a tramway line and several bus lines.

The cemetery has a relevant impact on the whole area; even if most of the visitors do not interact directly with the neighborhood itself, they create a significant amount of traffic. Visiting the area during the cemetery’s opening hours is a quite different experience than doing it when Cimitero Maggiore is closed. Also, for a long time the cemetery has widely provided support to the local economy; as a matter of fact, most part of the shops are still owned by grave producers.

Walking through the area, you get the feeling that Viale Certosa cuts clearly in half the neighborhood; on one side there are mainly residential buildings and some local bars and restaurants, while on the other side just tertiary activities.

The main place for aggregation in the neighborhood is a former farm, called “Cascina Torchiera”. Besides being a place where young people meet to talk about politics and social problems, it is also a popular destination for Saturday nighters seeking for fun.

Recently, Cascina Torchiera started hosting a kind of farmer’s market selling fruit and vegetables.

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Two Faces of the Neighbourhood Dwellings Factories

DwellingsBar and restaurants Factories Services sector Car laboratories Bar and restaurants

Graves and marble

Services sector

Aggregation points

Car laboratories Cimitero Maggiore Graves and marble Aggregation points Cimitero Maggiore

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Functions at ground level

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CASCINA

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Urban morphology

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From the City Center to the Cemetery

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Cascina Torchiera

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Daily Routine

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Two Faces of the Neighbourhood

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The Real Estate Context: crisis and challenges Today, the real estate market is much different and much more demanding than what is was before 2008. The façades shall have an aesthetic appeal, they need to stand out and get the buyer impressed. Being eco-friendly is also an extremely important prerequisite; buyers look for an apartment where they can live comfortably without spending a fortune on bills. There is more attention to detail and the construction process is planned step by step in order to avoid useless expenses and delays. This is due the fact that margins for construction firms are much smaller than they used to.

In the ‘nineties a construction company would not even consider investing the time if the profit was less than thirty percent of the budget, while today it is likely to have a profit of about ten percent of the cost. Nowadays, residential units are unlikely to get sold before the construction is over. This was not the case of the Before-2008-Era. As Architect Francesco Dolce, the designer of Viale Certosa 295 told us, buyers are aware that construction firms or even real estate companies can go bankrupt easy, leaving them without their money and their flat. It is interesting to understand how it all fell apart; usually the whole construction process, from the day you buy the land to the moment it is sold, takes about three to five years. Before 2008 land cost much more than the post 2008 days, almost twice as much. This means that to make money, real estate firms needed to sell to finished properties at the priced the initially planned on. By the time the construction was over, though, real estate prices dropped, making it impossible to sell the finished units at the planned price. This led investors to lose not just the profit margin, but even a chunk of the money invested. The only design firms that survived to this situation are the ones that converted themselves into renovation projects, as today it is unlikely to start a project from scratch.

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‘‘Back in 2007, whatever you designed was just fine. There was an insane demand for flats , everyone was buying properties, not just one, but many. Whatever you designed, you would get it sold way before you even started getting the construction site ready.

It did not matter if the project was good or not, whether it was located in a decent position or in the middle of nowhere, you were going to sell it.

Also, today’s projects are more site specific and targeted; you will not design with the same logic a building in downtown Milan and a residential complex in a suburb. This seems obvious now, but until ten years ago it was not. If the area is well connected and central, you can push your hand and upgrade the building’s materials and standards.

A good professional is always a foot ahead of his competitors and try to design a building as ecofriendly as possible, because often by the time the construction is over t he technology is already obsolete and the building is not “A class” anymore.

Today buyers are more aware. they research the technology used, the materials and acoustic and often ask questions about technical aspects. The professional needs to be well educated and ready to explain the concepts in a simple way so that the buyer . can fully understand what you are talking about’’

Arch. Francesco Dolce, principal of Itredì Architettura and designer of Certosa 295

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Rendering

Previous building

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The project

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Exploded view Tower A

Eighth floor Tower B

First floor

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The Original Project: The Building The residential complex is composed by two towers seven stories high located above a lower building which contains two levels of parking garages. The parcel of land where the construction is taking place is transversal to Viale Certosa and it is long and narrow. In fact, Tower B is attached to the surrounding building on two sides, while tower A on just one side. In place of this new residential complex, land was before occupied by a two stories building, similar to the one on the side, later demolished.

The building process was interrupted in 2005 as the construction firm filed bankruptcy, therefore neither of the buildings have been completed yet. Tower B is already provided of roof and internal partitions, while just the structure of Tower A has been placed.

Unlike buildings nearby, there is not commercial space at ground level. Because of cemetery, most of buildings on Viale Certosa host gravestone makers. Instead, Certosa 295 is provided with an entrance both for cars and pedestrians directly on the main street, leaving no room for other functions.

Tower B is three meters taller than Tower A; in fact, ground floor of Tower B is higher since it is the main entrance of the complex.

Tower A is slightly larger than Tower B, therefore even residential units are not equal.

On each floor is located a one bedroom and a two bedroom apartment, while the upper floors are duplex. The access to each of the apartment is directly via the staircase unit.

The larger typology is composed by a living room with a kitchen area, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, only one provided with a window. Every apartment is provided of at least one large balcony.

The parcel of land where the construction is taking place is transversal to Viale Certosa and it is long and narrow. In fact, Tower B is attached to the surrounding building on two sides, while tower A on just one side. In place of this new residential complex, land was before occupied by a two stories building, similar to the one on the side, later demolished.

The building process was interrupted in 2005 as the construction firm filed bankruptcy, therefore neither of the buildings have been completed yet. Tower B is already provided of roof and internal partitions, while just the structure of Tower A has been placed.

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Section AA’

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Tower A

Viale Certosa

Tower B

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Section EE’

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Tower B

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Section DD’

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Ground Floor

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First Floor

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Apartment typologies

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Bilocale_ 40.5 sqm

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Trilocale_ 63 sqm

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Duplex_ 98 sqm

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Duplex_ 103.1 sqm

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The Building: actual situation The building process was interrupted in 2005 as the construction firm filed bankruptcy, therefore neither of the buildings have been completed yet. Tower B is already provided of roof and internal partitions, while just the structure of Tower A has been placed.

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The building today

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Tower A

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Section DD’

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Section EE’

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Block A - typical plan

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