Feltrinelli Porta Volta designed by Herzog & de Meuron, The overall masterplan for Porta Volta holds an important strategic potential for creating a positive impact on the surrounding area, due to its important urban dimension. As part of the redefinition of the area Porta Volta, Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli intends to relocate its seat to the northern center of Milan, considered as an ideal environment for the foundation?s multiple activities. Together with the building of Fondazione, the project includes the development of two further buildings, mainly dedicated to offices, and a generous green area as extensions of the existing boulevards.
Photography: Filippo Romano
The historical analysis of the site drove the evolution of the design proposal. The urban organization of Porta Volta traces back to the course of the Mura Spagnole, the ancient 16th-century city walls which were the last of a series of fortifications which since Roman times have defined the city?s growth boundaries. After the opening of the bastion in the late 19th century, Via Alessandro Volta laid the basis for the city?s extension outside the ancient walls, connecting as a new, prominent urban axis the historical center with Cimitero Monumentale. Today, the emptiness of the site is a testament to the walls and, at the same time, reminds one of the destructions this area has suffered during the Second World War.
Together with a series of preserved gates, the two Caselli Daziari di Porta Volta ...