{"id":761237,"date":"2026-04-29T11:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/761237\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:41:26","slug":"som-preserves-the-soul-of-1960s-office-complex-in-milan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/761237\/","title":{"rendered":"SOM “preserves the soul” of 1960s office complex in Milan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global studio SOM<\/a> has renewed Corso Italia 23, a 1960s office<\/a> complex in Milan<\/a>, retrofitting its modernist<\/a> structure and fractured interiors to align with modern standards.<\/p>\n

Occupying an entire urban block, the Corso Italia 23 building comprises three distinct volumes originally designed by Italian architects Gio Ponti<\/a> and Piero Portaluppi.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorSOM has updated the Corso Italia 23 office complex in Milan<\/p>\n

SOM<\/a> looked to improve connectivity throughout the 46,500-square-metre complex, transforming its closed-off layout into a “porous urban campus”, while preserving its architectural quality.<\/p>\n

This approach included the transformation of a large central courtyard from a parking lot into a shared garden, along with the creation of new pedestrian routes and internal staircases.<\/p>\n

\"OfficeIt was originally designed in the 1960s by Ponti Fornaroli Rosselli and Piero Portaluppi<\/p>\n

“Our core objective was to deliver a strategic reinhabitation of a mid-century landmark,” studio design partner Kent Jackson told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Drawing on the lineage of Gio Ponti and Piero Portaluppi, we reinterpreted the building’s campus typology \u2013 transforming the site from a closed, insular block into a porous and verdant urban campus.”<\/p>\n

“The result preserves the soul of the 1960s architecture, while replacing its insular logic with one of openness and transparency,” he added.<\/p>\n

\"CourtyardA new central courtyard unites the three buildings<\/p>\n

Looking to pay homage to the original design, SOM’s strategy focused on material reuse, with 70 per cent of the existing building structures and foundations retained.<\/p>\n

One building, which had become severely damaged over time, saw its red granite facade removed and repurposed into a glass fibre reinforced concrete system that matches the building’s original colour.<\/p>\n

The buildings were also updated to meet modern energy standards, while preserving its original massing and “geometric discipline”.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Snohetta<\/p>\n

Sn\u00f8hetta showcases “transformative” Ford headquarters building in Michigan\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

“By treating the existing 1960s complex as a material bank rather than a site for demolition, we significantly reduced upfront embodied carbon,” Jackson explained.<\/p>\n

“This circular approach preserves the material memory of the original building while achieving the performance required of a contemporary envelope.”<\/p>\n

New glass-enclosed entrance lobbies have been added to the buildings to reinforce a sense of permeability \u2013 offering views into the shared courtyard, which has been completed with planted seating areas.<\/p>\n

\"InteriorSpiral staircases were added to improve internal connections<\/p>\n

Inside, new openings in the buildings’ existing floor plates accommodate large spiral staircases that were added to improve internal connections.<\/p>\n

“The central challenge lay in restoring the architectural legibility of the original campus design,” Jackson said.<\/p>\n

“Over time, internal connections had fractured, and the central courtyard had become impersonal and disconnected from the life of the campus,” he added.<\/p>\n

\"PeopleThe existing building structures and foundations were largely retained<\/p>\n

The offices are complemented by a conference centre with a 200-seat auditorium.<\/p>\n

Additional common areas and workspaces added by the studio include lounges, breakout spaces and roof terraces with views over Milan.<\/p>\n

Recently, permits for the proposed supertall skyscraper by SOM in Midtown Manhattan were submitted by the developers for the 175 Park Avenue in New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Morphogenesis has created an expansive mixed-use office clad with sandstone murals in Kolkata<\/a> and Felix Lewis Architects transformed an Egyptian-style boiler house in Kent into a workspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Dave Burk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global studio SOM has renewed Corso Italia 23, a 1960s office complex in Milan, retrofitting its modernist structure…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":761238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[20371,648,1032,1033,171,2219,70415,124817,35414,92915,92916,245024,120552,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-761237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-adaptive-reuse","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-italy","tag-milan","tag-modernism","tag-office-architecture","tag-sectionall","tag-sectionarchitecture","tag-sectionexclusives","tag-skidmore-owings-merrill","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116487814655385365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}