Since the last decade, Milan has been the protagonist of a great architectural renewal thanks to the many skyscrapers popping up here and there: a real city growing from the bottom up! The city of Milan, in fact, is changing its face, but more than face it is changing its… profile: the skyline, more and more enjoyable from the high floors and overlooking the Alps, is constantly evolving.
The Duomo with its golden Madonnina, which to protect its people could not be surpassed in height, has found itself, thus, coming to terms with these new inhabitants of the city. If Torre Branca of 1933, in Parco Sempione, and Torre Velasca of 1957, not far from the Duomo, kept to tradition without rising above the Madonnina, lo and behold, from the late 1950s these skyscrapers began to become more and more majestic, and copies of the golden patroness were placed on top of some of them. Where, then, do we find these copies of the Madonnina on the skyscrapers of Milan! The first was placed on the Pirelli Skyscraper in 1960 and then, fifty years later, two more were placed on top of the Palazzo Lombardia and on top of the Allianz Tower.
Porta Nuova and Citylife: the skyscrapers of Milan live here
By now, arriving and living in Milan, whether for a few days, for a long period or because one is a Milanese, cannot fail to imply a visit to the central areas of this renewal and that impose themselves on the city precisely because of their skyscrapers: Porta Nuova and Citylife! Even for the Milanese themselves, and not only for tourists, the two neighborhoods are continually to be discovered.
Porta Nuova is the city’s real Business Center, starting with the Pirellone, Milan’s first real skyscraper, designed opposite the Central Station by none other than Gio Ponti in the late 1950s. Then we pass between Cesar Pelli’sUnicredit Tower looming over Piazza Gae Aulenti, the Diamantone, Bosco Verticale designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti, Torre Solaria with its two sisters Aria and Solea, Palazzo Lombardia, and the Scheggia, Torre Gioia 22, headquarters of UBI Banca: the real “city that goes up.”
Citylife is Milan‘s newest and futuristic neighborhood, nicknamed Three Towers precisely because of the presence of the three brand new skyscrapers designed by the great archistars Arata Isozaki, Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind. Here, where “the Straight,” “the Crooked,” and “the Curved” dominate the residential neighborhood and Artline Park, you can already breathe the air of the future!
Milan’s skyscrapers: an amazing guided tour
How could we not schedule a guided tour to discover the history of these neighborhoods and the skyscrapers that are becoming Milan‘s true calling card?
There are many paths that can be taken in the shadow of these giants, tracing the city’s history from the postwar period to the present: between the economic boom and more recent urban redevelopment and development projects, in which Expo 2015 is also complicit, Milan with its skyscrapers has literally changed face.
With NEIADE Tour & Events ‘ guided tours, discovering the city will be even better. From the Brera District to Porta Nuova you will be able to stroll through the continuous transformations of the city, being fascinated by its many faces: where the Naviglio della Martesana canal once flowed, now in fact the ultra-modern skyscrapers of Garibaldi and Isola, the new neighborhoods of Milan, but also the world-famous Bosco Verticale, which is reflected in the very glass windows of the buildings that surround it. The Porta Nuova District is precisely the symbol of Milanese innovation, welcoming the great architectural challenges that have contributed most to changing the Milanese skyline. This area of Milan, however, is not dominated only by skyscrapers: the Bosco Verticale is, in fact, accompanied by Europe’s most modern green lung, the Library of Trees. How not to visit the Porta Nuova district even at sunset lights, when the pastel colors are reflected in the glass surfaces of the buildings?
Citylife is certainly the most futuristic and futuristic neighborhood in the city making it architecturally at the forefront internationally. In addition to the very tall skyscrapers, also worth discovering in this Milan neighborhood are the highly original residential buildings designed by Hadid and Libeskind, the Shopping District and the park surrounding it, rich in greenery and an open-air museum for contemporary art thanks to the ArtLine! Citylife also cannot miss an evening tour to enjoy the innovation with the evocative evening lights!
Milan’s Skyscrapers of the Future
It is known that Milan does not stop for a moment and we cannot think that skyscrapers end here! In the city, there is no shortage of regeneration, redevelopment and urban development projects involving their construction. You certainly cannot miss a visit to these new creatures of the city!
Just start from Porta Nuova where, between the Unicredit Tower and Torre Solaria, overlooking Piazza Gae Aulenti, the Unipol Tower, the green project by Mario Cucinella Architects, a true vertical nest that goes for sustainability thanks to solar panels on the facade and a special cladding that insulates it in winter and prevents overheating in summer.
Innovation also continues in Citylife, and next to the Three Towers a new building will be erected… but horizontally: it is “the Lying Down,” a new symbolic gateway to the city. Two buildings connected by a hanging structure will create The Portico, designed by the BIG studio.
Changing areas, we transfer to the Scalo di Porta Romana, where Antonio Citterio and Patrica Viel designed the Torre Faro, the new headquarters of energy company A2A, which will boast a Sky Garden and a Belvedere over the entire city.
Further north, Lambro Park will be the subject of two interventions: the first is Park Towers Milano, by Asti Architetti, a residential skyscraper created as a redevelopment project that also includes an urban vegetable garden and an area entirely dedicated to children; the other project is Welcome Feeling at work by Kengo Kuma&Associates, designed for living and working in close contact with nature, a skyscraper with zero CO2 emissions and enriched by Corti oper air, Terraces and Greenhouses.
We just have to wait and be able to shake hands with the new gentlemen of Milan!!!
Cover photo of Nicolago, taken from Wikipedia.
