Two years after Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) revealed its proposal, construction on the new-generation office building in Milan’s CityLife district has officially started. BIG’s design is set to “stand as a new paradigm for the offices of the future, as the outcome of a new idea of workplace based on innovative design solutions that put quality of life at the center and redefine the concept of sustainability”.
Courtesy of LUCIANR
The completion of BIG’s office building, CityWave, will mark the completion of the CityLife area. The CityLife area in Milan is an urban regeneration project that aims to provide a safe and lively environment where sustainability is a priority, to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. CityWave will also act as an urban-scale gateway to CityLife.
Courtesy of © STRUTTURA LEGGERA
BIG designed its extremely sustainable office building back in 2019. The design highlighted the development of a 53,000-square-meter area that marked the last two remaining plots of the CityLife and included two individual buildings called East and West. These two buildings are connected through a 140m long hanging roof structure—the huge roof structure accentuates the urban-scale gateway and highlights the dominating concept of the project; a concept of relationship.
West comprises two underground floors, a lower ground floor, and twenty-one floors above the ground. Seventeen of which will be office spaces, while the remaining three will host a restaurant, a sky bar, and a technical floor. The lower ground floor will offer shared facilities and an auditorium. One of the remarkable architectural features of this building is the relationship between the first five floors, which are connected by a sculptural staircase.
Courtesy of LUCIANR
Courtesy of BIG
On the other side of the hanging roof structure, East comprises two underground floors, a lower ground floor, and eleven floors above the ground. The ground and first floors feature an atrium with a winter garden and other shared facilities. Also based on the concept of relationship, the first two floors are joined by a monolithic staircase while the others are connected visually by the atrium and the balconies that surround the inner courtyard.
Courtesy of © B&TB
BIG aims for the office building to “go beyond zero impact”, consuming 45% less energy than standard office buildings. Hence it is powered only by renewable energy sources. The facades of both East and West will be clad with photovoltaic panels, which will make CityWave one of the largest urban photovoltaic parks in Italy. Moreover, the system will collect and reuse rainwater and will provide a large public green area. BIG integrated other environmental-conscious solutions such as using groundwater for heating and cooling.
Courtesy of BIG
“The large catenary canopy of CityWave unites the last two buildings of City Life with a single sagging gesture. The solar tiles power the workplaces within while the wooden underside covers a new public space underneath. Like a contemporary interpretation of the massive covered public space of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II the solar canopy offers the citizens of Milan a shaded and sheltered urban space for the life and culture of this vibrant new part of the city. The resultant silhouette unites indoor and outdoor space in a form of weightless monumentality.” Bjarke Ingels
Courtesy of BIG
CityLife is a redevelopment project of the historic former exhibition and trade fair center in Milan. The urban-scale project provides residential, retail, and recreational services, and features designs of renowned architects, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Studio Libeskind, and BIG. BIG has also recently unveiled the master plan of a new city in a desert area in the United States.
