Office building Largo Augusto Milano
The redevelopment of this building, located in the center of Milan, has led to a rethinking of its functionality. The architects from Asti Architetti describe the intervention as a "massive recladding without changing the original function” of the building with the aim of upgrading the entire structure and improving its impact in the urban context, generating a new compositional balance between geometric shapes.
The building now hosts the headquarters of an Italian bank and forms the corner between Largo Augusto and Largo Bersaglieri, acting as a link between the two streets and the neighbouring buildings.
The architects from Asti Architetti explain the concept of the project: "To ensure the architectural heterogeneity in the immediate surroundings, we have opted for a solution that emphasized the verticality of the existing structure rather than the width; a design choice that then determined the redesign of the façade” through the Reynaers Aluminium CW 60-SC curtain wall system installed by Metal-Ser.
The re-modulation of the external casing with a new glass façade has allowed to obtain a considerable improvement in the internal natural lighting, in full compliance with the energy requirements.
To guarantee the architectural heterogeneity in the immediate surroundings, we opted for a solution that emphasized the verticality of the existing structure with respect to the width; a design choice that then determined the redesign of the façade.
The planimetric definition of the project aimed to put emphasis on the corner element, as a hinge between the different architectural languages overlooking the two avenues.
This suggested the introduction of an exceptional element at the closing of the building, represented by a plastered masonry blade that starts from the ground until it wraps around the last floor of the building and forms its covering, while maintaining its unchanged height. The covering was already present in the original building, but it was not very visible and gave a sense of "unfinished" to the old structure.
A plastered masonry blade starts from the ground and ends up wrapping the top floor of the building, forming the roof.
