Scuderie de Montel - Milan Spa
Information
Client: San Siro Wellness
Project:
New Scuderie de Montel Spa in Milan
Services: Preliminary, final and executive design, construction and structural supervision, CSP/CSE
Location: Milan (MI)
Status: under construction
Year: 2018 - in progress
Team: Arch. Marzorati + Tecnarc + Par'c Nouveau + Politecnico di Milano
he Spa Theater project, winner of the international call for proposals "Reinventing Cities," involves the rehabilitation of the stables and surrounding green areas, with the intention of creating a new urban park to serve citizens. The proposal to create a Spa and Thermal Park stems from the fact that there is thermal water in the subsoil.
If in the 19th century Ebenezer Howard expressed the idea of the "garden-city" as a counterpoint to the industrial city with its intrusive fumes, today Milan becomes the spearhead of a model of urban transformation in which new parks make it increasingly a "garden-city." Along these lines, the project for the Ex Scuderie De Montel, in the San Siro district of Milan, winner of the international call for proposals "Reinventing Cities," aims to recover the relationship with water, with the earth, with vegetation: all within the logic of well-being and balance between the urban community and nature.
The proposal to create a Thermal Park and SPA on the site of the former De Montel Stables stems from the concrete fact that water with thermal characteristics is present in the subsoil. Starting from this fact, the project to rehabilitate the stables and surrounding green areas was developed with the intention of creating a new urban park defining a harmonious confluence of architecture and nature at the service of citizens. Gardens and vegetable gardens will be created within the park, which together will compose a large urban oasis where past and future will meet, in the name of people's well-being and the stimulation of creativity.
Of the original two-story building, the ground floor has been retained, while of the second floor only a few dormers have been saved. Therefore, the restoration work involves strict preservation of the existing and reconstruction of the missing floor while respecting the existing volumetric and morphological features (mansard roof).
For reasons of functional optimization of the activities that will take place in the thermal park and SPA complex, new volumes of minimal size are added, aimed at meeting the needs of space utilization. It is in the portion of the building to be reconstructed and in the newly constructed volumes that greater freedom in the choice of materials aimed at the almost total use of environmentally sustainable elements can be exercised. The choice of materials has been oriented toward products with low energy consumption or capable of reducing the energy consumption for their production; the maintenance of the building's living comfort during its lifetime due to its high thermal insulating capacity; and recyclability at the end of its life cycle, limiting construction waste.
The "Theater of the Baths" project plans to enhance the historic buildings of the De Montel Stables, emphasizing the Art Nouveau profiles and opening into a wide exedra carved out between the Stables and the residential buildings rising between Via Fetonte and Via del Centauro. The ease of access, both from urban neighborhoods and from surrounding municipalities, the microclimate given by the presence of greenery and water, and the cultural, recreational, sports and commercial activities that find a place in the renovated Scuderie De Montel, make the Teatro delle Terme a place of sociality that encourages meetings and dialogues for citizens of all ages. What is proposed is not just being in contact with hot water or in a sauna, but living multi-sensory experiences in which body and mind are involved in a participatory way. This goal has as its tool thermal water experienced in different forms: rooms with dry and wet heat, emotional rooms, massages, and catering.
Thermal water from the existing spring is the primary element of the project. Several indoor and outdoor thermal water pools are planned. Special attention is given to outdoor pools to be used throughout the year. In the outdoor areas, the pools have been positioned so that an ever-changing relationship with nature is established. A maximum contemporary attendance of about 500 people is expected on weekends and holidays.
