Tower and Line – Housing

Michael Mercado28 April 20221 Mins read223

Nana Ayensua Amonoo + Jaonna Begleri

Macachini, Milan, Italy

2019

@_UNAPPARANT + @IM_AYENSUA

Comparatively, the perimeter of Piazza Maciachini appears dormant, inactive and abject in Milan’s organised landscape of facades, building blocks and piazzas. This new proposal therefore seeks to forms a proper boundary for Piazza Maciachini.

In the city of Milan, Maciachini is a multi-cultural area, given its large migrant population and businesses. It is also one of the areas with high crime rates. This is partly due to portions of the neighbourhood that appear neglected and improperly planned.

The project is spread out on 2 adjacent sites. One small triangular green area and a larger one with numerous onsite parking making the area unattractive and unfriendly for users.
Knowing this, there was a need to create a design that regenerates the vicinity without necessarily gentrifying the entire area. The proposal therefore became a bridge building that linked both sites. The tower sits on the smaller site and the line (elongated portion) stretches to cover the large void that exists right across, and unto the larger site. Doingthis gives a sense of direction to the Piazza and creates a site attraction.

The larger site is subsequently organized into a park of games which is bounded by cycle paths. A new concentration of greenery is then used to replace the numerous parking lots; restricting parking to already existing underground parking which appear to have multiple entries from different parts of the larger site