feltrinelli + herzog & de meuron: an urban project for milan

‘porta volta fondazione feltrinelli’ by herzog & demeuron, milan, italy  image © designboom

‘we have to honor and destroy what people have done before us,’ jacques herzog told a mixed crowd at the politenico di milano during milan design week 2013. half of the pritzker-prize winning team of herzog & de meuron, the architect synthesized the arc of the firm’s work and elaborated on the partners’ first project in milan, a new home for fondazione feltrinelli at porta volta–see drawings and renderings here. calling it a ‘dream commission’ the swiss architect stressed the opportunity in architecture to reveal unexpected potentials and noted milan as a significant liminal space between north and south, a city that often attracts romantic ideas.

model of the upcoming porta volta fondazione feltrinelli image © designboom

the talk accompanied an exhibition at spaziofmg that displays models expressing the urban monument’s repetition of columns in the context of the dense city. since the project is set to distinguish milan by 2015, the gallery is showcasing historic drawings that demonstrate milan’s urban tradition and clarify the area’s organization alongside maquettes of the scale-conscious form. the current emptiness of the district is attested to the missing walls, which date back to 15th century fortifications that were later opened in the 19th century. while the bastions once defined the city’s growing boundaries, the main road, via alessandro volta, connects the new, prominent urban axis to the historic city center despite the walls’s absence in after world war II. maps show the once-ravaged area alongside plans for the new foundation building.

‘architecture is more interesting when it is a field of thinking, a moment of reflection [that can] reveal unexpected potentials.’-jacques herzog at a lecture during milan design week 2013, seen above with curators luca molinari and simona galateo image © designboom

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