Milan is not a city that offers itself immediately to the gaze. Its architecture is not the result of grand gestures or declared urban landscapes, but rather of a more subtle sequence of spaces that emerge progressively: entrances that introduce, courtyards that enclose, passageways that connect, and terraces that open unexpectedly onto a panorama of rooftops. Historic Milan is introvert: it exposes its true nature through hidden fragments that are often concealed from the eyes of passers-by. Compact buildings leave onlookers guessing as to what they hide inside, revealing themselves only to those who give in to the urge to cross the threshold. Its dense tapestry of roads, squares and buildings, as well as its sporadic and precious parks, contains a surprisingly varied range of architectural languages. 

The identity of the city lies within this variety: a discrete yet solid quality that serves as the cornerstone of the redevelopment project for the Milan headquarters of EY, in the historic heart of the city. Through extensive retrofitting works, the relationship between the new headquarters and the urban setting has drawn on a series of fundamental elements of the city for its design: EY within Milan, and Milan symbolically within the building. When all is said and done, the core of a place as stratified as Milan already contains everything. Our task thus took the form of an operation of re-reading and reconstitution; not introducing new formal elements but rather recognising a series of principles rooted within the architecture of the city and re-interpreting them on the scale of a contemporary headquarters. Entrances that introduce the interior, preparing visitors for what lies within; courtyards facing onto gardens that create intimate and protected spaces; terraces and rooftops that open onto panoramic views of the landscape; communal areas that favour communication and help foster a small community.

Elements that are often silent and almost invisible from the street, but that are able to generate extraordinary spatial complexity. The point of reference is not so much the domestic dimension of the Milanese home as it is the urban scale that the city has managed to create, above all in the period immediately following the Second World War: a civil and measured architecture in which buildings establish a relationship with the city through a series of intermediate spaces. 

The project has sought to interpret profound spatial logic: that system of relationships between interior and exterior, between public space and private dimension, which has, over time, led to the construction of one of the most recognizable architectural cultures in Europe. This approach has been enhanced through the introduction of an element that underscores this contemporary evolution: the transformation of the ground floor. The project has embraced a radical move towards opening and lightening the connection to the ground, rendering it permeable and transparent. Aspects that, in the introverted city, remain hidden behind a solid division are here presented to anyone crossing the urban space, allowing the quality of the interiors to be perceived with a glance. The ground floor thus represents a filter, a place in which the private headquarters and the public dimension of the city can come together. 

A path crosses the building, connecting exterior and interior: the entrance, the lobby, the courtyard, the common gardens and spaces for socialisation, and then onwards, leading once more towards the city in a sequence of strongly characteristic spaces.This system is centred on our aim to instill a sense of articulated and widespread common space that expresses the value of interpersonal relationships as a cornerstone of the headquarters. In imagining these spaces, we once again turned to a profoundly Milanese characteristic: a form of design that emerged in the Fifties and Sixties and that, drawing on the dynamic nature of the city, expanded beyond its borders to become a universal symbol of comfort and restrained adornment. The elements that define the interiors, from the false ceilings to the floors, from handles to light fittings, all express this reference to the city, which runs as a common thread through the various spaces. This dynamic operation, in which EY embraces and interprets the legacy of Milan, also sets in motion a reciprocal movement. Just as Milan symbolically enters the building through its various spatial features – entrances, courtyards, terraces and places for socialisation – the building presents the city with a renovated public space. The redevelopment of the nearby Piazza Santi Pietro e Lino, which has been transformed into a green, pedestrian area, is an external extension of the principles of openness and relationship developed within the headquarters. More than a simple office building, the new headquarters of EY thus seek to serve as a small piece of urban infrastructure: a fragment of city that is able to embrace work, socialisation and daily life within a single structure. It is within this continuous exchange between architecture and city that the idea that has guided the project since the very beginning takes shape: Milan enters EY, EY enters Milan.

Opening image: The area occupied by EY’s headquarters in the center of Milan, between Via Meravigli and Piazza Cordusio. Courtesy of Piuarch