An Urban Vineyard For Milan

CRA wins the international competition for Reinventing Cities with the design of a new research center under a 200-meter-long vineyard, connecting the street level to the rooftop with a seamless footpath. The project, developed for real estate group Covivio, adds a new public space to one of Milan’s most vibrant neighborhoods, close to the new Fondazione Prada.

International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has won the “Reinventing Cities” competition organized by the C40 Cities Group with a project for a new office building and center for scientific research in Milan, Italy.

The design features a 200-meter-long (650 feet) urban vineyard that covers the entire building, creating a publicly-accessible footpath that ascends from the street level to the rooftop. The project, called VITAE, was developed with the leading real estate group Covivio in a team with the consortium Habitech as environmental experts. Construction will kick off in late 2019.

Inspired by the principles of biophilic design, the project takes its name from VITAE, a word whose meaning is “life” in Latin and “vine” in Italian. A green path with a vine-covered pergola gently rises along the walls of the building, creating a long promenade for pedestrians. The people who stroll through this green spiral can pass close to a series of terraces and greenhouses for urban farming and hydroponic cultivation.

VITAE has won the competition to reinvent a vacant, post-industrial lot in via Serio, a street in south Milan located a few hundred meters from the Fondazione Prada contemporary art museum. The complex includes a brand-new piazza, adding up to a total of more than 5000 square meters of public space given back to one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods…