Facades Of Milan

Sustainability and Creativity in 4 facades!

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:36:42 -0500

3M Italia S.p.A. Headquarter (2010)

Location: Pioltello (Mi)
Architects: Mario Cucinella Architects
Facade materials: Glass with “brise soleil” system

North, est and west facades were designed with original shading systems, in particular the “brise soleil” system. The south one shows a series of terraces which protect the building from climatic fluctuations. This is made possible thanks to a carefull proportion between opaque and transparent surfaces.
Doubtless this project wants to realize the concept of “sustainable innovation”.
Thanks to this aim this building demonstrates that the technology exploitation of renewable sources of energy can also be a creative opportunity. The external casing ha been designed to ensure the effective control of sunlight, reducing the amount of heat during the summer in order to encourage less use of cooling systems.
A new way of conceiving the building was born: the “building-plant” system.

Moreover the transparency of large areas of glass is not only a technical and formal choise but also shows the will of 3M, as an “open” company, which pay attention to the energy savings and environmental impact.

This is the result…

…

Silk-screen printing for RCS Headquarter!

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:50:00 -0500

RCS Headquarter (2007)

Location: Via Angelo Rizzoli
Architects: Stefano Boeri Architetti
Facade material: Screen-printed glass

The whole structure is covered with a double “skin” consisting of insulated metal modular panels inside and sheets of glass tied by aluminum supports outside.
But the most creative and interesting element of this facade is that the color of the glass sheets vary according to the different hours of the day, the season, the sunlight and weather conditions giving to the building a particular iridescent effect.

"Our" Grafton building!

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:04:00 -0500

Bocconi University (2008)

Location: via Roentgen, viale Bligny
Architects: Grafton architects,
Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara (directors),
Gerard Carty, Philippe O’Sullivan,
Simona Castelli (project architecs)
Facade material: Ceppo di Gré

The idea was to create a “rocky shield”, constructed with robust material such as Ceppo di Gré stone.
Extract since ancient time from Marini Marmi quarries on Iseo lake, ceppo di Gré is a grey stone and one of the most historic of Milan.
I choose this building to start my collection not because Ceppo di Gré is an innovative material, but because the choise of material is meaningfull and has a specific role linking the past and the new.

Shelly McNamara talking about the choise of this stone:
“We wanted a university that talked with the city even in its outward appearance”

Let's start!

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:51:35 -0500

Hello everyone!

I’m Ludovica Bellini, an italian student from Bocconi in Milan. I’m attending CLEACC, a particular course focused on management in arts, culture and communication fields!

In this semester I’ll try to create and improve a digital collection about Facades Of Milan selected according to materials used in their building.
It’s an opportunity to discover this city from a different point of view, more hidden but equally interesting!

I update my collection in my twitter account too.
And so..Follow me!
https://twitter.com/#!/FacadesOfMilan