“Sovraparco”: A Hanging Garden for Piazzale Loreto

Essay, High Density, Hypnos, LAD (Laboratory of Architecture and Design), Territory and mobility, Urban Paradigms

Air quality, City, Context, Design, Greenery, Infrastructure, Italy, Milan, Nature vs. Artificial, Neighborhood, Project, Public Catalyst, Territory&Mobility, Urban dynamics, Urban Paradigms, Urban planning

Proposal, presented in Milan on May 19, 2018, selected for “Costruire lo Spazio Pubblico”, a call for papers announced by the Faculty of Architecture of Rome, La Sapienza; Published in Urbanistica Dossier no. 15; presented during the convention “Costruire lo spazio pubblico. From Spaces to Places” on March 18, 2019.

The “Overpark” neologism identifies a green area built from scratch above a pre-existing urban function.
In the context of an urgent need for permeable soil and vegetation for our cities, it is faster to act by addition rather than by substitution.
In a city that create mezzanines inside its buildings, creating hanging public gardens is our urban regeneration strategy.
We applied the architectural concept of the Overpark in the context of Piazzale Loreto.
Piazzale Loreto is the gateway to Milan; some of the most fast-moving parts of the city gravitate around it.