CityLife Milano Residential Complex, Torre Hadid, Architect, Tower Project Design, Images

CityLife Milano Residential Complex

Italian Housing Tower Building Development – design by Zaha Hadid Architects

3 Apr 2016

CityLife Residential Complex Milan by Zaha Hadid

CityLife Milano Residential Complex by Zaha Hadid

Design: Zaha Hadid Architects

Following the recent death of architect Zaha Hadid we post information and photos of the CityLife Milano Residential Complex, with the photographs shot a few weeks ago.

Photographs: Simon Garcia | arqfoto.com

The Citylife project located in the heart of Milan – in the centre of the historic fiera area immersed in a park of 160,000 square metres (one of Europe’s largest pedestrianized zones) — involves a group of architects rather than a single designer: Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind.

Citylife brings to the urban context a new model for work and leisure, an area to be enjoyed on foot or by bicycle, with traffic circulating only underground.

At the centre of the project is the business district — three office towers in the ‘piazza delle tre torri’: torre Isozaki (il dritto, the straight one), torre Hadid (lo storto, the twisted one) and torre Libeskind (il curvo, the curved one) — torre Isozaki will be 202 meters high (663 ft) with 50 floors, making it amongst the tallest in Italy by roof height.

Torre Hadid will be 170 meters (558 ft) high with 44 floors, and torre Libeskind will reach a height of 150 meters (492 ft) with about 30 floors. The three towers are able to accommodate ca. 10,000 people, over a total of approximately 130,000 m2. A contemporary art museum, a shopping area with bars and restaurants, and a pavilion for exhibitions, sports, entertainment and fashion shows are also part of the project.

The skyline of Zaha Hadid’s CityLifeMilano housing complex is defined and characterized by a sinuous fluid line. Residences are comprised of seven curved buildings of varying heights, from 5 to 13 floors.

The distinctive architectural elements include a serpentine movement of the curved balconies and the profile of the roofs, which provide a soft and elegant shape for all of the top-floor penthouses, complete with extensive covered terraces. Construction of the residential complex began in august 2009, with delivery of the first apartments scheduled for 2013.

Great care has been given to the site and building orientation, taking into account environmental and comfort requirements so that most apartments face south-east and at the same time allocate the best views from the terraces, towards the city or the public park.

Façade materials – fiber concrete panels and natural wood panels – emphasize the complex’s volumetric movement and at the same time give a private and domestic quality to the interior of the residential courtyard.

The interiors open onto extensive terraces. All of the apartments feature structural and plant solutions that can be easily adapted to individual needs.

Each of the homes is different from the others in terms of size, exposure and layout: from tworooms to large family apartments and twin-level penthouses.

CityLife Milano park plan by Gustafson Porter:

At ground level, the double-height lobbies are flooded with light by large openings
stretching from floor to ceiling, designed to confer strong visual continuity with
the park. Access to all stairwells is provided by main and service lifts. The
underground parking areas lead directly to the individual buildings with easy,
convenient and secure access.

Drawings by ZHA: