The team of architects – all internationally famous; Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Pier Paolo Maggiora – have put together an ambitious scheme; three towers (218, 185 and 170 metres high), a rectangular block, a sail and a half spiral. Inside space will be given over to the much awaited Design Museum. Pavilion 3 of the old Fiera – completely transparent – will become a centre housing facilities for children, young people and the elderly. It won for its “functional mix of offices, housing and services” explained the commission and “fifty percent of the area (225 thousand square metres out of the 440 thousand of the Fiera), as required by the brief, will be given over to parkland”. Five thousand people will be going to live in the new neighbourhood whilst the daily “population” who will make use of the area is estimated to be around 10-15 thousand. By 30 July the preliminary contract is to be signed for the purchase of the site, to be handed over to CityLife during the first three months of 2006 whilst the overall project is to be completed by early 2014.
The tower blocks at the Fiera are just one of the high rise projects that are soon to “invade” the capital of Lombardy, following the tower block for the Regione by I.M.Pei (160 metres) and the Città della Moda by Cesar Pelli (140 metres). And today the go ahead is due to be given for the Montecity project designed by Norman Foster that covers an area of 1,200,000 square metres, making it the biggest area under development in Europe.
The winning design, together with that of the other two finalists (Renzo Piano and Norman Foster) will be on show at the Triennale as from 22 September. E.S.
