Gustafson Porter Wins Milan CityLife Park Competition

London-based landscape architects Gustafson Porter have recently won the competition to design the Milan CityLife Park with their concept "CityLife ‒ A Park between the Mountains and the Plain". The Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, announced the winning design of the international competition to create a public park in the centre of Milan.

The other selected practices taking part in this high-profile international competition were Agence Ter (France), Rainer Schmidt (Germany), Latz + Partner (Germany), Christophe Girot (Switzerland), Erika Skabar (Italy), Latitude Nord (France) and PROAP (Portugal).

The second place was taken by PROAP with their project “Il meglio dei due mondi”, and the third place by Atelier Girot with “Radura”. The projects will be displayed in an exhibition open to the public at the Urban Center located in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II until November 30, 2010.

Project Description:

Gustafson Porter’s concept builds on Milan’s commanding position between the rich agricultural plains of the Po to the south and the routes across the Alps to the rest of Europe to the north - resulting in its role as a major European trading centre throughout history. Built on the Milan microcosm, the twofold scheme of Parco Il Bassa (lower) and Parco la Alta (higher) will include the following key features:

• The Belvedere Pergola Garden ‒a sculptural response to the form of the shopping complex. The Belvedere’s pergola provides spectacular views over the park. The pergola structure of steel and timber with fragrant and brightly-coloured climbing plants and roses will be surrounded by gravel gardens of exotic plants.
• Activity Field ‒a field with historical links to this site of innovation, with space for temporary events such as garden festivals, design fairs, fashion shows and art installations mirroring the themes within the exhibition halls of the Fiera.
• Woodlands ‒to shield the activity field and to create a habitat for flora and fauna as part of Milan’s ‘Green Ray’ ecological corridor.
• Amphitheatre ‒sculpted park forming a natural amphitheatre with the Art Museum as its focus and creating a space for picnics and gatherings as well as informal seating during performances and concerts.
• Butterfly Garden ‒ linked to a children’s play area with plants attracting butterflies and allowing a seamless transition between the outdoors and the butterfly house.
• Piazza Tre Torri ‒ with a pattern of tram rails that are reminiscent of the streets in Milan’s inner city which fill with water during rain, new beautiful ephemeral emblems emerge, and build a strong visual reference between the piazza and the system of the water throughout the park.
• PreAlpi and Plain Entrance Gardens ‒depict theflora and landscape character of the Lombardy region.
• Fontanili Piazza – filled with fountains at the heart of the park, providing the major meeting space before a walk in the park, or entry into the shopping centre and metro.

Letizia Moratti declared: “This is an important day for our city because today wepresent the winner of the ideas contest for the CityLife Park project, the third park in the centre of Milan. 170,000 m2 of green space that characterizes the identity of a grand new quarter in Milan, an area of living, work and culture.”

The Competition initially drew more than 70 entries from practices worldwide. Gustafson Porter is the design team leader and has established an experienced multi-disciplinary international team with !melk (New York), One Works (Milan), Arup Italia (Milan), Ove Arup (London) and further support from cost consultants Studio Tre Architetti (Milan) and lighting designers Ferrara Palladino (Milan).

At the final stage of the competition, eight short-listed teams submitted a master plan design for the park in the fairground redevelopment area in Milan. The designs were judged by a jury, comprising prominent members of the local architecture and landscape community, and directors and members of CityLife and of the Comune di Milano, chaired by Prof. Francesco Dal Co, Professor for History of Architecture at Università IUAV di Venezia.

The park is a central element of the Historical Fiera Milano Quarter Integrated Works Programme, an international competition won by a consortium of companies that include architects Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki and Daniel Libeskind as designers and is one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the recent history of Milan.

Neil Porter states: “We are delighted to have been chosen to create a green and sustainable open space. Our aim is to achieve the set goals of devising a park which is environmentally sustainable, symbolic of the city’s transformation and connective within the existing and future green infrastructure of Milan, the ‘Green Rays’. We wish to create a design that will set new standards for future urban parks and gardens – particularly with regards to issues of biodiversity and sustainability within a complex urban context.”