Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s first venture in Milan is an adaptive reuse of an early 60’s building, originally designed by architects Gio Ponti, Piero Portaluppi and Antonio Fornaroli. The firm imagined a scheme that renovates the former Allianz Milanese headquarters while transforming the Corso Italia Complex into a modern office space.
With construction scheduled to start on October 2019, a public exhibition showcasing the scheme opened in Milan entitled “Lavori in Corso”. The SOM imagined project for the former Allianz Headquarters, is a revival opportunity for the Corso Italia area. This fresh intervention will help strengthen the district’s status as the new business area of Milan.
Corso Italia 23 is a great opportunity to reposition Gio Ponti’s headquarters building and integrate it into the heart of Milan.[...] We were also happy that Allianz chose to approach this as an adaptive reuse project, significantly reducing our carbon footprint/embodied energy.-- Kent Jackson, Design Partner for the project.
While respecting the historical building, the project relies on current concepts to transform the space. In fact, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, efficiency, wellbeing and smart are the big titles that engendered the SOM design, addressing first the needs of the users. This inside-out approach will generate vertical hubs of central connections and common spaces. Office floors meet the business needs of the tenants and offer also meeting spaces, phone rooms, lounge areas, and a 200 seat auditorium for seminars.
We are delighted with SOM’s designs for Corso Italia 23. With a focus on innovation and sustainability, we see this redevelopment as building on and enhancing Gio Ponti’s original design intent and creating a truly aspirational workplace campus for today and the future. -- Alexander Gebauer, CEO West Europe Allianz Real Estate.
On another hand, the new heart of the campus is a redesigned courtyard, an outdoor space that enhances the working experience. The translucent honeycomb façade system draws on Gio Ponti’s interest in tessellation and reflectivity. Finally, on a sustainability level, the proposal aims to meet LEED Gold certification standards and achieve WELL Gold.
At SOM, we share the belief that sustainability is not only about resource efficiency and operational costs, but also encompasses proactive design solutions that support users’ health and wellbeing -- Yasemin Kologlu, Design Director for the project states.
- Client: Allianz Real Estate
- Architectural Project And General Coordination: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Europe) LLP
- Local Architect, Architect Of Record, Cost Consultant Fire And Life Safety: Proger
- Structural Design: BMS
- MEP, Sustainability And Smart Building Design: Manens-Tifs
- Lighting Design: Filippo Cannata
- Transport And Vertical Transportation: Systematica
- Heritage Consultant: TA Architettura
- Project Management: Jacobs Italia
