Box hunder the sign of time
Tertiary/production building, Via Passo Pordoi, Milan
Project name: Box hunder the sign of time
Location: Via Passo Pordoi, Milan, former Magazzini Peck
Project architect: Attilio Terragni
Project team: Gino D'Andrea, Stefano Zanni, Maddalena Benedetti
General contractor: Renato Montorfano & C.
Constructor manager: Umberto Montorfano
Commission date: 2008
Starting date: November 2010
Completion: February 2012
Project description:
The 'box under the sign of time' is a precious and solid crystal, which reflects the people, history and traditions of Italian public buildings. The project was conceived from a desire to create a paramount image of the traditional rectangular volume. At the same time, the construction maximises the usability and integrate with surrounding areas. The building house long and proportionate side-lights, ample to illuminate each floor, based on a conceptual drawing of Teo Van Doesburg. Internally, light is the important characteristic of open-space. This key has been to define the building as one 'where the environment and respect to the work space are the foundations of intervention. The 'box' incorporates a dynamic body, composed of diagonal axis, that references the same proportions of the existing city. This solution allows for the creation of working spaces in the building, surrounded by dynamic view of the exterior, transforming the periphery of milan into a new visual experience. The box is defined by a soft and transparent surface composed of a single skin façade, ever changing in its articulation and without any shadows. The role of light is one of the most important dimensions of the city. Beautiful cities are the instruments of light, resonating during the day and night, not merely by the light of nature or by artificial light. Each city casts its own individual light and it is this light, which makes a city unique.
