zaha hadid's generali tower in milan documented in new images

the citylife masterplan has transformed milan’s abandoned trade fair grounds into a vibrant new residential, commercial, and business community district. the site, which occupies more than 90 acres, includes buildings by by zaha hadid, daniel libeskind, and andrea maffei. in addition to shopping districts and corporate offices, the site is now fully open to the public, providing new civic spaces, parks, and residential areas. when fully complete in 2020, citylife will be the largest new civic space and public park created in the city in 130 years.

all images © hufton + crow

aligned at ground level with three of the city’s primary axes that converge within citylife, the 170 meter (558 ft) generali tower — designed by zaha hadid architects — connects with its surrounding public piazzas and park. as the 44-storey structure rises offering broader views across the italian city, the twist orientates the tower’s higher floors to the primary southeast axis leading to bramante’s 15th century tribune of santa maria della grazie, and beyond to the city center.

the citylife masterplan has transformed milan’s abandoned trade fair grounds

‘this vortex of centripetal forces at ground level is transferred vertically through the tower by realigning successive rhomboid-shaped floor plates to twist the tower about its vertical axis,’ explains zaha hadid architects. ‘this helical twist reduces incrementally with the height of each floor above street level, giving all floors a fractionally different relationship to the floors above and below.’

the site is now a vibrant residential, commercial, and business district

once its interiors are completed in summer 2018, the tower will house up to 3,900 generali employees. from a sustainability perspective, the structure’s double-façade of sun-deflecting louvers flanked by glazing provides extremely efficient environmental control for each floor and ensures excellent energy performance. generali tower has also been certified as LEED platinum by the US green building council. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

a shopping district is located at the base of the tower

the 170 meter-tall structure connects with its surrounding public piazzas and park

as the 44-storey tower rises it offers broader views across the italian city

a double-façade of sun-deflecting louvers provides efficient environmental control

the tower will eventually house up to 3,900 generali employees

the project’s interiors will be completed in summer 2018

citylife will be the largest new civic space and public park created in milan in 130 years

UPDATE: this project has been shortlisted in the ‘completed buildings – office’ category and for the ‘engineering prize’ at the 2019 world architecture festival.

project info:

height: 170 meters (44 storeys)
office tower: 66,785 sqm
retail podium and cinema: 39,760 sqm (5 storeys)
parking, storage and mechanical/plant: 40,884 sqm
total: 147,429 sqm GFA

competition: 2004
design: 2009–2012
construction: 2014–2017
interiors: 2017–2018

project team

architects: zaha hadid architects (ZHA)
design: zaha hadid, patrik schumacher
ZHA project director: gianluca racana
ZHA project associate: paolo zilli
ZHA project architect: andrea balducci caste
ZHA site supervision team: pierandrea angius, vincenzo barilari, stefano paiocchi
ZHA project team: shahd abdelmoneim, santiago f. achury, marco amoroso, agata banaszek, gianluca barone, cristina capanna, alessandra catello, sara criscenti, kyle dunnington, alexandra fisher, h. goswin rothenthal, marco guardincerri, subharthi guha, luciano letteriello, carles s. martinez, marina martinez, mario mattia, peter mccarthy, giuseppe morando, massimo napoleoni, raquel ordas, annarita papeschi, massimiliano piccinini, matteo pierotti, line rahbek, martha read, arianna russo, luis miguel samanez, mattia santi, letizia simoni, alvin triestanto, roberto vangeli, fulvio wirz
ZHA competition team: daniel baerlecken, yael brosilovski, ana cajiao, tiago correia, adriano de gioannis, yang jingwen, simon kim, daniel li, graham modlen, karim muallem, judith reitz