Year: 2008
Commissioned by: TeMa Engineering spa
Teknoarch services: Preliminary design, final designs
Location: Monza
Client: Ditta Saiom srl
Surface area: 7,822 mq
REPORT

The focus point that holds together the entire design is the green space, which connects the historic gardens of villa Borgazzi, through the day care center, with the borders of the residential building. The sequence of green areas becomes the fulcrum of the design, a relational space between different objects, where contrast and conflict find resolution through the continual changes in nature: from public garden (the open space) to private gardens (the historic park) and services of interest to everyone (day care).
Spaces and structures are thus related through a visual and material continuity: the entire project was conceived as an organic continuum, in which each element influences the others through different stimuli that shape spaces and forms: in this way the result is a hybridization of various contexts, blurring their borders.
This principle of organic generation governs the shapes of the open spaces, the interiors of the buildings and the relations between them, eliminating any hierarchical relationship and the sharp delineation between public and private: the large green courtyard becomes a commons, shared by the condominium but in direct contact with the private yards belonging to each single apartment. The natural elements and materials used everywhere, such as wood, vegetation and stone, also contribute to underscoring the continuity between the interiors, the exterior spaces, the commons and the day care center.
There is a powerful historical reference to the typical Lombard farmstead, or cascina, where social interaction was concentrated in the interior courtyard, on which the entrances of all the residential and productive spaces opened. This organization characterizes both the residential building and the day car center and, like the courtyard-style house, intrusive and protected from the outside, the residential complex as well, which opens out onto the courtyard and whose exterior forms the boundary of the block, which fits more rationally and compactly with the surroundings, taking on the valence of a "front" on the urban scale. In fact, by echoing the scale of the pre-existing industrial buildings, the structure fits in with its surroundings in terms of dimensions, giving the entire project a positive identity in the landscape and restoring order to a complex of buildings that sprang up on the outskirts of the city, the fruit of single, uncoordinated interventions realized without any discernible urban regulatory plan.
The typology chosen is that of the ancient "open courtyard" house, with residential units aligned in rows, and 3/4 homes per floor. The building has a classic horseshoe shape, with an average depth of 15 meters, and is equipped with 5 stairwells and an elevator, which access the courtyard and serve about 65 apartments, distributed over five floors, plus two underground levels with garages (about 90, with space for 150 cars) and cellars (about 74). The overall average height of the building is of about 16.80 meters at the roof line.
The structures stand back from the borders of the lot, in compliance with the new applicable regulations, enough so that no shadows are projected over the neighboring buildings. This limitation led to the creation of a swath of private gardens, between the houses and the perimeter wall.
All the apartments have a covered porch, or loggia, bordering the living area and looking out onto the interior courtyard, in line with one of the main design concepts: visual continuity and a subtle relation between the public and private space, typical of the typology adopted.
The principal access walkway faces out on the triangular piazza (via Guerrazzi). To access the courtyard, one passes through a cut in the body of the building, which opens, also in a visual sense, into the interior space. This latter is animated by the day care center, whose flowered windows look out onto it, as well as the garden roofs and the zig-zag walls that delimit the private gardens. Lower down, a gate allows vehicles to access the piazza. Finally, two ramps, to the north and south, lead to the garage.

The general design criteria aim at an extremely efficient technological system, resulting in the realization of a sustainable and high quality organism.
The synergistic design of the systems and the architecture was guided by the definition of five fundamental objectives:

• proper solar orientation;
• limitation of energy needs through a external surfacing that would effectively insulate and adequately shield the transparent portions;
• utilization of renewable energy sources (photovoltaic and solar thermal);
• treatment and collection of rainwater;
• suitable sound shielding.

The roof of the day care center synthesizes the design approach, performing four important functions:

• protection from the weather, sunlight and excessive sound levels;
• production of energy through the system of photovoltaic panels built into the roof surface;
• collection of rainwater, to be used for irrigation and the sanitation services, as well as giving the building’s architecture a powerful identity.

The symbolic heart of the life of the day care center is the piazza on which the various sections face. The organization of the rooms is the result of a process of organic generation that best suits, satisfies and interprets the ways in which the little guests utilize space. The common space (piazza) defines a circular path in a continuum between inside and outside, marking distinct areas through the alternation of widened areas (in which to play and socialize) and compressed ones (distribution). An ample mirrored band facing north/northeast, screened by a covering and rolling blinds, adds light to the interior rooms and the ample internal common space. The main entrance is from via Spallanzani, quieter and with less traffic than via Guerrazzi, the street the secondary and service access gives on.