Die Hängenden Gärten von Mailand!

Our project Sovraparco, developed together with LAD, attracts attention also beyond the italian context.

100 Hauser editions, for the release of the brand new volume “100 GREEN SPACES” have strongly wanted to publish our project, despite the edition is dedicated to realized projects.

Among the various parks, gardens and landscape interventions, Italy is also represented by LAND with the gardens of Porta Nuova in Milan and C+S with Piazza del Cinema at Lido, Venice.

 

At this link the PDF extract

 

At this link the possibility to buy a printed copy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, an excerpt of the interview we were given to prepare the article.

 

Why is the Piazzale Loreto in dire need of a redesign?
Piazzale Loreto it is a traffic junction node, but from a pedestrian point of view it divided in two part the city. I you wanna walk from one side to the other one you may need 20 minutes.
My ideal of social cohesion bring me to imagine bridges among districts.
Loreto for us is the better place to start a green revolution: if you can do a more sustainable city there, you can do it everywhere!

 

Why a hanging garden in one of the most important gateways of the city? Why not more concrete, more abstract shapes and lifeless sculptures?
The Sovraparco follow the same paradigm of Bosco Verticale by Stefano Boeri: de-mineralize the city, enlarge the amount of permeable soil, multiplicate the number of trees and plants!
Sovraparco cut completly with tradition, it is a new typology.
Paradoxicaly it’s also an abstract and sculptoreal shape, but the main function is to placed nature an human wellness as a priority.

 

What will the visitor experience in the elevated garden? How is it composed? Which plants and functions are planned?
Sovraparco will transport people inside an oasis. All the noise, the dust, the pollution of the city will be stopped by the big shell.
The underground square will host staircase and elevators to bring easily to the first level of the garden. Then three elicoidal ramps will bring to a second level of garden.
One single bench, alongside all the circumference will enclose the accessible areas.
Inside Sovraparco there are local plants, it’s not an exotic garden.
The upper part, for instance, is planted with vegetable gardens.

 

Does the sovraparco seek to change the urban function?
Will the roundabout and the Metro also be renewed, as well as the streets leading to the plaza?
The urban function of Piazzale Loreto will remain the same, except the addition of a new function: the garden. The main urban function remain as a big traffic node and an important metro station.
Of course, we emprove the quality of the pedestrian experience. Nowadays the metro station is composed by narrow underground corridors. In future it will be a huge square wit shops and other services.

 

Will the new hanging garden also commemorate the historical burden of the place?
No. Italy is not yet ready. What happen in 1945 is still perceive as a very controversial moment.
The upside Pantheon is not the upside body of Mussolini.
In future will be able to digest that moment, maybe there will be something phisical to see to not forget.