Project partner:
Architect Cino Zucchi

The theme of collecting, in the wider sense, becomes the generating idea of the programme, in an attempt to bridge the gap between ethnological and archaeological collections. The project suggests the conservation of the industrial structures, integrating them with recognizable new volumes like the Centre of Extra European Cultures, the Visual Arts Study Centre and the tower for the School of Cinema, also establishing a dialogue with the urban space by means of the reorganization of access ways and circulation. The structural typologies are based on a balloon-frame system, which becomes a model for the application of repeatable elements. The main facade on Via Tortona, of which only a portion at ground level is opened to provide access to the new centre, maintains its original rigorous character, while on the upper level a glass volume is placed above the entire elevation. Inside, a twelve-storey tower connected to a suspended panoramic walkway will house the School of Cinema and the Puppet Workshop, creating a new perspective along the internal street. The Archaeological Museum, faced in glass to permit control of the lighting, includes new constructions detached from the original structure, while the “vertical archives” in glass and the elevators, leading to the upper level of the museum following a backward course. The Visual Arts Study Centre doubles its depth with reading rooms arranged along a glazed galleria. The Centre of Extra European Cultures, on the other hand, is placed over the footprint of the buildings destined for demolition, bending to create an internal trapezium-shaped plaza. A structure with large spans permits flexible planning, with a foyer that connects the three levels of the Ethnic Museum to the isolated volume of the Auditorium. Continuous roofing in zinc-titanium shelters all the main volumes. In the design of the technological plant the use of underground water sources has been proposed. The water-bearing stratum in the Milan area has almost reached the ground surface level. The use of this water can make a contribution to help resolve this emergency situation.