MAGAZINE

What the ExMacello Area in Milan will become: an interview with Snøhetta, lead architect of the project

Milan — 22 January 2025
Designers
Snohetta

A new sustainable and inclusive neighborhood will emerge, featuring residences, a student dormitory, office spaces, commercial activities, a kindergarten, cultural facilities, and a university campus

Built in the early 20th century and located in the Calvairate district, the Ex Macello of Milan—originally a municipal slaughterhouse and part of the wholesale market—is an industrial complex covering about 15 hectares. Its gradual abandonment began in the 1990s, culminating in its closure in 2001. However, for the past three years, this fascinating piece of industrial archaeology, intertwined with ornamental friezes and self-sown plants, has been the setting for public meetings and events: from Piano City to the unforgettable Fuorisalone 2023 at Alcova; from Fashion Week 2024 to Lumina Park, an immersive light exhibition open to the public. The redevelopment project for the Ex Macello site, named ARIA, won the second edition of the C40 Reinventing Cities international competition, designed by Snøhetta as the lead architect, along with Barreca & La Varra, Cino Zucchi, Stantec, and Chapman Taylor.

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Photo courtesy of REDO, Wolf Visualizing Architecture

Founded in Oslo in 1989 by Craig Edward Dykers and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Snøhetta is one of the most innovative and renowned architectural practices internationally, employing over 350 people across nine offices on four continents. We spoke with Tommaso Maserati, who has worked at Snøhetta in Oslo for the past ten years, following his degree in Environmental Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan. We focused on ARIA, a project aimed to be the largest social housing initiative in Europe, as well as Milan’s first Carbon Negative area, thanks to 36,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels and the creation of renewable energy communities. The site will feature plants and soil designed to purify indoor environments, treat water, capture CO2, and filter air pollutants.

What does the masterplan for the Ex Macello envision?

The project can be summarized as a sophisticated green system—which includes the urban park you mentioned—becoming a dialogue and synthesis between the existing architectural heritage and the new buildings. The functional program for the ExMacello includes a mix of uses: residences (both social housing and market housing), a 600-bed student dormitory, office spaces, commercial activities, a kindergarten, cultural facilities, and a university campus (the new IED campus). Given the considerable size of the site and its complex layout, this project will generate a new urban fragment.

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Photo courtesy of Ex Macello

In Italy, there is a lot of talk about urban peripheries and the lack of gathering places in cities. How do you see the role of public space in the regeneration of disused areas like this?

In the project for the Ex Macello, public space was one of the guiding principles, with the fundamental goal of “opening” the site to the city. The area is currently defined by a high perimeter wall, which previously blocked any form of permeability—both visual and physical—into the vast industrial complex. Now, removing this barrier allows us to reconnect existing urban links and integrate adjacent green systems within the site, merging into the large urban park that will form the heart of the intervention. It's important to emphasize that the quality of public space is measured by its ability to be truly inclusive and usable by all citizens. In this sense, the careful design of open spaces, and their articulation into a sequence of places with different characters, functions, and usage times, are crucial elements for ensuring the long-term success of the project. In short, the masterplan envisions the creation of a new, sustainable, and inclusive urban neighborhood with a strong focus on social and environmental regeneration.

In Snøhetta's projects, the design of the built environment and the landscape often overlap. What architectural solutions have you adopted to ensure the environmental sustainability of this project?

Yes, in our approach, every architectural project actually starts as a landscape project. In this specific case, an innovative aspect was conceiving the green system not only as a landscape element but as a real technological infrastructure. For example, the design of the green areas will reduce the volume of runoff water thanks to their stratigraphy and the species introduced. The large number of trees, together with the considerable permeable land in the park, will help maximize CO2 absorption and storage capacity.

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Photo courtesy of Ex Macello

What about the restoration of existing buildings?

The in-depth study of restoring existing buildings was another fundamental pillar of the project. This approach allowed us to minimize the need for new constructions, which, when necessary, are designed using sustainable technologies and materials. Additionally, the reduction of the carbon footprint is further supported by a new-generation heating network and extensive use of solar panels designed not only to meet the site's energy needs but also to provide energy for a portion of the surrounding neighborhood.

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Photo courtesy of Ex Macello

The buildings of the Gallery, the three slaughtering pavilions, the catenary, the market access portal, and the two large concrete pavilions of the market are subject to protection by the Heritage Conservation Authority. The design of the new residential buildings seems to be a crucial part of the project. How do you integrate them with the existing industrial structures while maintaining a coherent dialogue between the new and the old?

That's a great question. I’m not sure I can provide a textbook answer, but what we’ve aimed to do is start with the existing buildings and adapt them as much as possible for future, flexible use within the site. The new buildings have found their scale and morphological expression, influenced by the historical architectural traces and urban axes, which create a dialogue and open up the site’s perimeter. Once again, the green spaces play a key role in uniting the new and the old. Paths, corridors, parks, and squares help form a connective weave that creates relationships between the different components of the project. This network of open spaces defines clear spatial hierarchies between the buildings, helping to “compose” the urban landscape within the Ex Macello.

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Photo courtesy of f DSL Studio

Snøhetta is a place where nobody is from, but anyone can experience. What have you learned from the studio’s approach in terms of multidisciplinarity, sustainability, and focus on the community?

After almost a decade at Snøhetta, I can say that, beyond the variety of projects in terms of type, scale, and context that I work on, what continues to strike me most is the social environment within the studio. Our approach is based on an open and democratic system, and I believe this philosophy—or we could call it a culture—clearly reflects in our projects. I don't think the studio is characterized by a specific formal style; rather, it is marked by a constant focus on the conceptual dimension of the project and how this theoretical aspect can guide us in designing spaces that, as you pointed out, always prioritize the collective dimension, even in more private and exclusive situations.

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Photo courtesy of Ex Macello

What are you working on now?

Currently, our studio is engaged in several projects in Italy: in addition to the Ex Macello and the nearing completion of Pirelli 35 in Milan, we are developing the area of the old Tobacco Factory in Verona. Internationally, one of the most significant and exciting projects is the Opera House in Shanghai, which is currently under construction.





Tag: Milan Architecture Rigenerazione urbana



© Fuorisalone.it — All rights reserved. — Published on 22 January 2025

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