Corso Italia 23 | SOM - Skidmore Owings & Merrill

DESIGN STATEMENT

1.       A New Gateway

The repositioning of the former Allianz Headquarters represents an historic opportunity to develop a new workplace district in the heart of Milan. The Campus acts as a catalyst for the renovation of an area which has been neglected in recent transformations of the city and that will soon see major development with the future opening of the new underground metro line M4 connected to Linate Airport. CI23 re-establishes the role of the medieval gateway Pusterla di Sant’Eufemia, one of eleven gateways that allowed entrance to medieval Milan.

2.       The Campus

SOM’s proposal for Corso Italia 23 aims to transform an insular headquarters into a vibrant office campus which respects its heritage while meeting the company’s needs today and in the future.

The proposed interventions seek to reinstate our understanding of some of Gio Ponti’s original aspirations for an open courtyard and greater connectivity within the buildings. It has been important throughout the design process to create a greater level of connection to the urban environment, opening the office campus to a diverse group of users, with new courtyards, and dining venues, creating a vibrant atmosphere of activities that extend beyond the typical workday. Office floors are enriched by the insertion of central hubs, which are anchored by communal staircases that encourage movement throughout the buildings.

Key interventions bring the campus in line with contemporary workspaces and include the addition of new lobbies, suitable for various occupant profiles. By employing a unified set of materials, detailing and finishing, a ‘continuous landscape’ is formed at ground level, stitching the new elements of the campus together, including simple elevation changes that navigate both visitors and the office community to the Fitness Centre, Business Centre, and Food Hall.  Tenant lobbies link directly to the public realm, while spiral staircases visually connect the office spaces with the landscape and further collaborative and amenity spaces encourage informal gathering, promote physical activity and wellbeing throughout the work environment.

3.       Heritage

When it first opened in 1962 Corso Italia 23 embodied Gio Ponti’s idea of what the future of work would look like. With parking for the majority of employees, it solved city-centre congestion problems, a courtyard was landscaped with trees and flowerbeds, giving workers views to greenery, and a state-of-the-art data centre, packed with ceiling-high calculators, anticipated the spread of computer technology in Italy.

Our approach to heritage is rooted in our understanding of the values and key elements of the original architecture and design intent. Preservation is about managing change, acknowledging that some adaptation is necessary for buildings to remain in use over time, and that this must be undertaken whilst ensuring that the spirit of the original design is always maintained. The right balance needs to be found between heritage, innovation, sustainability, cost and identity.

Our design aims to maintain an individual character for each building on the campus, one which relates to its specific context and adjacencies. The level of intervention made to each building is dependent on its heritage value and its specific role within the campus.

4.       The Honeycomb Façade

The building which fronts Corso Italia defines the campus’ new identity and announces its presence on the main road to the city centre. Originally designed by Gio Ponti for residential use, the building was incorporated into the RAS headquarters after construction to be used as office. Later, during a 1980’s renovation, the original façade was altered.

In its latest iteration, the building is completely redesigned as a translucent object. Clad with a three-dimensional unitised glazed system, the façade’s language draws on Ponti’s interest in tessellation and reflectivity.

5.       Sustainability and Wellbeing

The proposal aims to meet LEED Gold certification standards with a range of strategies highlighted in low and mid-impact scenarios. Aligned with the project’s detailed and comprehensive design rigour, the proposal also aspires to achieve WELL Gold.

The design approach for the project and surrounding area considered four key sustainability themes: Water, Energy, Carbon and Wellbeing.  The strategy comprises advanced energy and water meters for monitoring and reporting, significant facade enhancements, energy generation through PV panels, purchasing green tariffs or energy certificates and grey water recycling. Advanced air filters, cleaning protocols, water testing and treatment and physical ergonomics also contribute to meeting the principles set out in the WELL standard.

Wellness is a key driver in this scheme, with emphasis placed on improving daylight in the workspaces, encouraging physical activity and using sustainable and local materials. Vertical transportation forms part of the wellbeing strategy, with feature spiral staircases in the atrium encouraging physical activity.

6.       The Courtyards

The existing courtyard is reimagined and given a completely new identity as an active green space which connects the buildings to each other and to the wider community.

The landscape design enables connectivity between the various parts of the campus, with greater visual permeability between inside and outside spaces. The landscaping is sculpted to provide quieter spaces: One slopes down to create a double height auditorium, while another steps down to a food hall/courtyard. From this dynamic landscape environment, users are led to a more contemplative series of courtyards. Here, tenants can hold casual meetings, meditate or relax with their colleagues.

A green space is situated on top of the “Fungo” building and overlooks a sunken courtyard where tenants can work outdoors. This distinctive space is calm, shaded, and surrounded by the Conference Centre, Lounge, and Office spaces. The courtyard’s new design gives continuity at ground floor, rationalising what was previously a fragmented series of spaces across multiple level changes.

7.       Amenities

C123’s diverse range of new amenities aims to completely revitalise the workspace experience, starting in the courtyard and continuing throughout the building up to a series of ‘lanterns’ at the campus’ crown. Along with the courtyards, these include a business centre, facilities for sport and leisure and retail on the street front, creating connectivity with the wider community.

The former underground car park is transformed into a new food-court, accessible from the centre of the main courtyard. The space is inspired by Gio Ponti’s original design, which imagined a wide opening at ground level to bring natural light into the car park. The new food hall will host multiple food outlets ranging from a restaurant and coffee shop on the ground floor to a market hall on the lower ground level and a clubhouse on the top floor. The direct relationship to the open courtyard takes advantage of the landscaping and provides opportunities for external dining.

8.       Conference Centre and Performance Space

A full-service conference centre facilitates large meetings and seminars with a focus on hospitality and full audio-visual integration. This amenity can be used by any of the building’s tenants, relieving them of the need to provide large conference rooms as part of their individual lease holdings. The conference centre’s rooms are reconfigurable and can be resized to accommodate the specific needs of any gathering.

A 200 seat auditorium incorporates a fully integrated audio-visual fit out and specialty lighting also allows the venue to serve as a performance space for the fine arts in addition to meeting the business needs of the companies on the campus. 

9.       Smart Ready

We believe that a ‘Smart Building’ should be measured not only by how well it responds to the long-term needs of asset investors and owners, but also to the immediate and on-going needs of its occupants. Corso 1talia 23’s Smart Building infrastructure is approached as a dynamic and responsive ecosystem of devices that speak to, respond to and support one another.

Given the rapid advancement of smart technologies, our design focuses on goals as much as on devices. High quality individual component systems contribute to an overall architecture that ensures an environment of shared information which will enhance Corso 1talia 23’s workplace and provide benefits that go beyond capital savings.

Corso 1talia 23 offers occupants a considerable number of progressive and customisable landlord-provided Smart-Ready features, including:

•      People counting & analytics

•      Wi-Fi coverage throughout all common areas

•      Environmental comfort, using real-time monitoring of temperature, light intensity, air quality, and relative humidity conditions to ensure a responsive and efficient workplace.

•      Indoor / outdoor environmental conditions monitoring to create high quality indoor microclimates

•      Resource & tracking monitoring for place finding (meeting rooms) or people finding. This system can be implemented to track public transport conditions, car parking or bike sharing availability, the day’s menu in the Food Court, or to book a fitness lesson in the gym or outdoor garden.

The Smart Building infrastructure is designed to allow for the introduction by tenants of additional features that include digital signage, room booking, hot desking, space management, electronic access control and audio-video entry systems, as well as predictive maintenance and building analytics.

PROGRAMME

PHASE I International Competition:               September 2016- February 2017

PHASE II                Design and Permitting:                      October 2017- September 2019

PHASE III               Construction:                                       October 2019- First quarter 2022  

SURFACE AREAS         

Total Area             45,000 sqm

Office Area           24,125 sqm

External Area:      2,180 sqm

Roof Area:            1,510 sqm

TEAM

CLIENT

Allianz Real Estate

 
ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT AND GENERAL COORDINATION:
 
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Europe) LLP
 
 
 
CONSULTANTS:
 
Proger  
Local Architect, Architect of Record, Cost Consultant Fire and Life Safety
 
BMS      
Structural Design
 
Manens-Tifs         
MEP, Sustainability and Smart Building Design
 
Filippo Cannata
Lighting Design
 
Systematica
Transport and Vertical Transportation
 
TA Architettura  
Heritage Consultant
 
Jacobs Italia
Project Management