Urban renovation project. New smart residential district – Complex “R3”
Customer: EuroMilano S.p.A.
Years: 2016 – 2019 (Built)
Activities: Preliminary and Detailed Design (Infrastructure, Structural & MEP Engineering), Bill of Quantity, Acoustics, Energetics, Fire Engineering, Architectural construction details, Site Supervision (Structural & MEP Engineering)
Design developed with BIM approach
Project cost: Euro 25.1 mln of works
Architecture: Studio Scandurrra, Zanetti Design Architettura
The new residential complex consisting of an in-line building and a tower building is located in the northwest area of Milan and is part of the “UpTown” project, which includes two Intervention Units: the “R3” Intervention Unit, completed in 2019, and the “R2” Intervention Unit, completed in 2022. The project is part of the Cascina Merlata Integrated Intervention Program, an extensive territorial and infrastructural redevelopment plan aimed at recovering a large peripheral area of the city through new residential, commercial developments, a large public park, school facilities, as well as a dense network of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. This complex was the first to be handed over to the city, and the project represents an open residential system that blends with the existing urban structure and landscape. The volumetric composition, given by the alternation of in-line and tower buildings, creates a moving and dynamic profile, favoring the view of each building toward the park.
One of the main objectives of the project was to create a new settlement with reduced environmental impact. At the neighborhood level, the thermal energy required for the buildings is provided by a district heating network; at the building level, passive performance, high thermal insulation, thermal inertia, winter solar gains, and summer shading are maximized so as to reduce thermal needs. Thermal fluids are produced by district heating exchangers, while cooling fluids are produced by water-cooled chillers. The power plants are located in the second basement and each serves several buildings. Distribution and control accessories are divided for each individual building. The heating/cooling system within the building units is made with radiant floor panels. Centralized double-flow mechanical ventilation with heat recovery obtained by means of an air handling unit with high-efficiency heat recovery installed on the roofs of the buildings is provided; this type makes it possible to reciprocate the air by recovering heat by means of heat recovery on the countercurrent exhaust air. A photovoltaic system is planned for each of the roofs of the buildings.
The structural system is composed of floors, cast-in-place reinforced concrete solid slabs, strongly reinforced concrete vertical columns and reinforced concrete stiffening cores placed at the stair and elevator cores, and reinforced concrete beams, lowered and raised strongly reinforced due to the presence of false piers, particularly for the line.
The entire project was developed and managed on site through BIM methodology.
Photographs by Andrea Martiradonna
