In Piazza Cordusio, one of the most important junctions of Milan's monumental centre located between Piazza Duomo and the main road leading to Castello Sforzesco, Park Associati is engaged in the refurbishment of the former Palazzo Sorgente.
The restyling results in the re-functionalisation of the entire building that houses offices on the upper floors; on the ground floor, first floor and basement the first Uniqlo megastore in Italy.
The refurbishment of the entire building - which dates back to the beginning of the 1900s, and was designed by Francesco Bellorini and Ippolito de Strani - attempts to establish a balanced dialogue between the neo-Renaissance eclecticism of the existing structure and a renewed relationship with the contemporary.
The creation of the two elements that characterise the project - an added storey and the covering of the inner courtyard - have been possible by moving and expanding surfaces and volumes, in exchange for an energetic upgrading of the building.
The floors from the second to the sixth become office areas, with emphasis put on the large glass surfaces and the flexible divisible spaces that allow for multi-tenancy.
The roof on the sixth floor previously housed a platform that was mainly occupied by equipment and was covered by dark bulkheads visible from the square below. Most of the plants have now been transferred to the basement and to areas within the building, and the resulting space has been destined for new offices that will house 50 workstations. The opaque glass cover imparts lightness, an almost ethereal feeling, to the added storey, its surface reflecting changes of light throughout the day. The sections on the glass surface - plates of steel and fibre cement - recall those on the façade, thus making the added storey perfectly integrated with the building without giving the impression of wanting to imitate its features.
The creation of the inner courtyard's glass roof has helped redesign the Uniqlo spaces on the lower floors completely. The roof has in fact created complete continuity between the large retail areas, as well as providing a covered passageway of direct communication between the square and the neighbourhood behind it - from Piazza Affari to the Bank of Italy building -, where the large financial centres are located. The three floors making up the Uniqlo store will be given visual continuity through a staircase connecting them and an internal bridge located on the first floor.
The divisions that used to define spaces on all floors have been removed, thus creating a very flexible and bright uninterrupted ring that winds from the inner courtyard to the façade. Thanks to the ceilings’ height, the second floor is particularly striking, even though from the upper floors the view over Milan's historic heart is truly unique.
Following a philological restoration, the building's façade has been cleaned and painted in two warm tones of grey that make it more contemporary while emphasizing its original style.
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