Richard Tower | BMS Progetti

The Richard Towers redevelopment project in Milan represents an excellent and innovative architectural design by BMS Progetti. The complex consists of 7 towers, where GammaStone provides the façade, pilasters and string courses of the 18-storey Tower C with its Gres AIR “Valmalenco Stone effect” lightweight panels and pre-assembled elements. The exclusively designed and customized corner solutions of the pre-assembled elements make this project unique and elite.
For what concerns volumes and composition, the joining element embraces the existing basement of the building, regularizing its geometry and creating a new compact front between tower and base.

The façade system features a vertical wall pattern that deals with the structural corner elements and flows to the top of the tower as a true crowning that allows integration with the brand signs of the company that will use the building. The new façade consists of two elements, the full pilaster and the window, alternating with a regular rhythm to generate a constant horizontal modularity on the whole tower. This creates a wall surface, stone-like in
material, which pursues a simple design, made up of few but meticulous details, in harmony with the neighbouring towers but simultaneously showing desire for change and modernization. The partial demolition of the existing sills with the extension of the transparent part of the glazed façade leads to a high level of energy efficiency and comfort in the internal space.

Rethinking two of the tallest towers, hoping that they could dictate the guidelines for future interventions on the adjacent buildings, the retrofit project starts from the ground level, redefining its relationship with the street, with a double-height covered porch that creates a filtered space between the road and the real entrance to the building. These similar buildings located in points of access to the city, currently in a state of almost total abandonment, are the manifesto of an intense expansion, often disconnected from the surrounding urban fabric. Therefore this is an important opportunity to rethink these building complexes, giving them a stronger identity through the use of a renewed language, akin to the architectural and urban culture of the city.

Thanks to the overall energy efficiency design and the resulting volumetric bonus, it is possible to create a new floor on the top of the building, with its terraces and panoramic loggias contained within the silhouette of the tower.