Residential Building Canonica
Refurbishment and renovation of an attic and partial demolition-reconstruction on residential building
In order to preserve the memory of the pre-existing building as an actor on the urban scene, the project has chosen the path of contamination of languages and the stratification of forms and materials. Specifically, the first and second floors were maintained in their original forms, while the ground floor and, of course, the additional crowning plan were completely redesigned.
The preexisting complex, organized according to the most typical typological canons of the Milanese popular architecture, and composed of two L-shaped buildings with a gallery distribution, plus a third lower body for craft use, had its fulcrum in the court that they define .
The project, in order not to alter the proportions of the interior spaces despite the increase in the volume on the margins, has planned to raise the proportion of the courtyard itself so as to restore the relationship between full and empty spaces and at the same time so as to allow the realization of the underground garages without resorting to excavations below the share of the foundations.
The other relevant aspect concerns the proposed distribution system. It provides for the construction of a new branched gallery on the three buildings, which allows access to all the housing units starting from a single staircase body and a single elevator. Its articulation is strongly evocative of the traditional gallery system in its forms, without however generating significant easement.
The inner courtyard is dominated on the southern front by the presence of a sundial, which, as in some ancient Milanese houses, ennobles the external space as if it were a domestic interior. Its shadow remains etched on a wall entirely covered in yellow glass grit which reflects the sunlight in a shining way.
