Construction Begins on BIG’s City Wave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan

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Work begins on Bjarke Ingels Group’s (BIG’s) CityWave project in the Milan CityLife district. CityWave is a new generation office building restored to provide a sustainable and liveable environment that improves the quality of life. CityLife is a residential and commercial development district located on the site of Italy’s former trade-fair grounds. It has other towers designed by Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and Arati Isozaki. CityLife will be complete as the second-largest public park in the city with BIG’s CityWave.

Construction Begins on BIG's CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan - Sheet1 — A curved canopy of CityWave along with the other skyscrapers. [Render image]. _©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

CityWave is a sustainable office building designed by BIG in 2019. The design includes the last two plots in CityLife with two buildings named East and West With 53,000 square metres. The two buildings were designed to be connected by a hanging roof structure of 140m in length. It acts as an entrance to CityLife. BIG’s idea of interconnecting the two buildings with a canopy makes it look like one composition. It is designed as a pedestrian public realm inviting people to CityLife.

Construction Begins on BIG's CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan - Sheet2 — Canopy connecting the East and West building. [Render image]_©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

The West building is the tallest of the two, has 21 floors above ground, 2 floors underground and a lower ground floor. It includes office spaces on seventeen floors, three floors dedicated to host restaurants and a sky bar.

Construction Begins on BIG's CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan - Sheet3 — The relationship between floors. [Rendered image]_©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

The other side of the canopy is the East building. It has eleven floors above the ground, two floors underground and a lower ground floor. The ground and first floors feature a winter garden and other shared facilities.

Construction Begins on BIG's CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan - Sheet4 — Pedestrian realm under the canopy. [Render image]_©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

One of the remarkable features in both the buildings is the concept of the relationship between floors. The first five floors in the West building are connected by a sculptural staircase and that in the East building connects the first two floors with a monolithic staircase. The remaining floors are connected visually by open spaces, balconies and inner courtyards.

Construction Begins on BIG's CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan - Sheet5 — Glass facade to bring in natural light. [Render image]_©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

BIG aims for the concept of “go beyond zero impact” in the office building. All the floors in both the buildings have the advantage of using a full 3-meter high ceiling. It helps in getting a good quantity of natural light through the glass facades.

Photovoltaic shingles on the roof surface ©BIG – Bjark Ingels Group

The roof of the buildings along with the canopy is designed to be cladded with photovoltaic shingles. It makes CityWave one of the largest urban photovoltaic parks in Italy. A large green area, a system that collects and reuses the rainwater and the thermal use of underground water makes the building consume 45% less energy than a standard office building.

References

Stouhi, D. (2021). Construction Begins on BIG’s CityWave Urban Regeneration Project in Milan. ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/968261/construction-begins-on-bigs-citywave-urban-regeneration-project-in-milan [Accessed: 17 September 2021]
(2021). Construction Begins on BIG’s CityWave; a Sustainable Office Building in Milan. arch2o. Available at: https://www.arch2o.com/construction-begins-on-bigs-citywave-a-sustainable-office-building-in-milan/ [Accessed: 17 September 2021]
Crook, L. (2019). BIG reveals visuals of Gateway building for Milan’s CityLife district. Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/12/05/big-the-portico-milan-citylife-district-architecture/ [Accessed: 17 September 2021]

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Author Jai Suvetha

In a predominately visual profession, Suvetha Arun who is a self-practicing architect and an architectural lifestyle blogger, desires to enlighten architecture through her writings. Keeping the traditional essence of architecture in her research and practice has made her stand out. She strongly believes in practicing what she preaches.