sul sito di Foster i progetti Santa Giulia e Polo Urbano

sul sito di Foster: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/ è apparsa la descrizione del progetto di Santa Giulia e di quello per il Polo Urbano della Fiera. Santa Giulia Masterplan A world class scheme for a world class city, the Milano Santa Giulia Masterplan reveals an inclusive vision for the future of all cities. These ideals are applied at the local level to create a masterplan that brings global vision, yet is exclusive to the topography of Milan. It is both a paradigm for clean, integrated and sustainable future living and a rare opportunity to create a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood that builds on the unique urban tradition of the city. Transforming the formerly industrial area in the south-east, Milano Santa Giulia is a new gateway on the scale of New Yorkís Battery Park City and Londonís Canary Wharf. The first major intervention in Milan for over 50 years, this urban centre combines housing, offices, shops, restaurants and cafes with cultural facilities such as a Congress Centre and Exhibition Hall. Essential to the logic of the masterplan is the creation of generous green spaces and a large central park that is a ëgreen lungí of the city. By combining compact, dense and vibrant environments with open, green breathing space, nature is balanced with urbanity to create a beautiful and safe public realm. The 1.1 million square metre site consists of three distinct pieces of land with different historical industrial uses. The project turns these derelict and divided areas into a unified, coherent and organic whole. Served by an excellent transport infrastructure, Milano Santa Giulia is highly accessible by road, air and train. Additionally, a tramline runs through the site, and links the subway station to the centre of Milan. Designed for a diverse and rich mix of residents and visitors, public space is fundamental. A 480-metre long central Promenade, with an integral relationship to a series of public squares, is the heart of the development. Punctuated at each end by the Congress Centre and multiplex cinema, it will provide a principal pedestrian route through the site. The width has been set to 24m to allow for the tramline, greenery and water features in addition to the pedestrian paths, while retaining the sense of scale and intimacy typical of Milanese pedestrian shopping streets. The 6m wide colonnade creates covered spaces on either side, which permits all weather use of this external space. The materials will make contemporary use of traditional materials such as stone, building on the renowned architectural traditions of Milan, in the creation of a new cultural and commercial nucleus. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milan Fair Masterplan In 2004, the Milan Fiera held an international competition for architectural proposals to develop its existing site, which has proved too limited to host large-scale exhibitions. The Foster studio collaborated with Frank Gehry, Rafael Moneo and Cino Zucchi on the design of a scheme that sets new standards for urban living in the twenty-first century. A high-density development with a wide range of mixed uses, the defining feature of the plan is a new type of living-park – or Â'greenfrastructureÂ' - with architectural and landscape components that are enmeshed with the ecology of the city. It creates a new urban quarter where occupants can live, work, go to school, dine in a restaurant or visit the cinema, all in close proximity. If implemented, it would be the most advanced sustainable development in the world. The scheme is woven into the existing urban fabric through a number of strands: the reinstatement of historical axial views across the site; the integration and rationalisation of transportation systems; the promotion of on-site residential, commercial and educational activities; and the design of buildings that are sympathetic to the historical built vocabulary. The forms of the buildings themselves are designed to reinforce the environmental strategy, guiding wind movement, directing solar heating, providing passive cooling and shading, and controlling water flows. Combining shaded, densely planted zones with open lawns, and laced through with streams and pools, the park is envisaged as the venue for a wide variety of recreational activities, from open-air concerts to ball games. Tree-shaded avenues structure and give scale to the gardens and stretch out to connect with MilanÂ's existing park system. At the heart of the site, at the edge of a new lake, is an elongated piazza. Here, a cluster of tall buildings marks the new development on the city skyline. Working within the development guidelines, it is the concentrated footprint of these towers that allows a remarkable 80 per cent of the 25-hectare site to be used as green space. Leading from the piazza is a new entrance arcade for the remaining Fiera facilities, a space that promises as rich an urban experience as MilanÂ's famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. >