Anna Böll

The building site is located in Via Torino, in the historical city center of Milan which is characterized by a dense, segmented structure. When looking over the rooftops of the city you see different courtyard houses characterizing Milan as a typical Italian city. The building site in Via Torino is occupied by remains of a former perimeter block development and ruins of old Italian courtyard houses. When studying these remnants I developed the idea to work with this existing structure which transfers more of the history and the culture of the site than any new building could do. The fragments of the old townhouses, that were destroyed in the war, form the basis for the new building. The new walls are build upon the ruins so that most of the old walls remain intact and only a few need to be added. The idea is not to imitate the former buildings but to interpret the given structure to fnd a contemporary answer for living in the city center of Milan nowadays. Each of the new buildings that arise from the ruins is characterized by its own courtyard and can be entered by a wide door directly from the street – as it is seen in most of Milan's dwelling. The continuous foor plans are in close relation to the layout of the old Italian townhouses. New openings varying in size are cut into the old walls to create a more spacious atmosphere. The interaction of old and new plays an important role in all stages of the project. The idea behind all decisions I made, was not to work out the difference between old and new, but to let the new evolve from the old.

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