Three “Urban Mountains” at Piazza Gino Valle

The new square dedicated to Gino Valle, the focus of the urban development plan of the Portello area, opened to the public at the same time as the inauguration of Expo 2015. The square, the largest in Milan, can now be reached by a cycle path that starts in the CityLife park and which, crossing all the pavilions of the former Fair, passes through it projecting itself towards the parks of the western belt and the area dedicated to the World Fair.

The general features of the square were configured by Gino Valle in the master plan that accompanied the urban plan approved in 2003, and it was then developed in a complete architectural project by the firm Valle Architetti Associati which collaborated with Topotek 1 for the design of the paving.

The plan to reconvert the former Alfa Romeo industrial area includes a series of public spaces and paths that connect the different parts of the site for pedestrians. There is a large urban park, the pedestrian walkway and the square of the commercial complex.

Configured by Gino Valle as the head of the firm Valle Architetti Associati between 1998 and 2003, the urban plan was first approved in 2003, the year of his death. Between 2003 and 2014 its development was overseen by Pietro Valle and Piera Ricci Menichetti. The firm Valle Architetti Associati also produced the architectural projects of two of the main works in the plan, the commercial complex and the square with three office buildings, recently completed and named after Gino Valle.

The public space has its origins in pedestrian movement
Public space and pedestrian movement are the settlement principles that connect different architectural structures, arranged around a large sloping square that opens up in front of the former building of the Milan Fair. The square has a wide base, the surface of which rises at a gradient of 5% along the diagonal line oriented at 45 degrees with respect to the bearing of the former exhibition area from where it starts.

This diagonal continues along the walkway which leads to the park and defines the main axes of the entire plan of the Portello. The base is structured into two underground levels and one above ground. It houses car parks, services, building entrances, commercial spaces and a restaurant. Therefore it is not a mere walking surface, but a structure equipped with functions, dotted with open air courtyards.

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Materials provided by Valle Architetti Associati