Building Design Partnership - Retail Development - Italy, Milan, Linate

Date: 23 Nov 2001

BDP has submitted a planning application for a new 50,000 sq m shopping centre at Linate, Milan.

The project is located east of Milan immediately north of Linate Airport on 20 hectares of existing agricultural land. BDP has designed an imaginative retail development within the tight constraints arising from the proximity to the airport - land to a distance of 300 metres from Linate cannot be built on above ground level; beyond this line building heights are restricted to 6metres tall rising on a 2% slope.

The striking response to these constraints is an elliptical two-level shopping mall, where the lower level is sunk into a 'crater' and covered by a roof garden with terraces and fountains. The long-axis approach from the car park falls gently, via a stepped ramp and travellators, to the lower level. The upper level is a partial ellipse with a swooping zinc and glazed roof, and a sloping glazed wall parallel with the 300m line.

A further dimension of the design is the inner elliptical building contained, like a 'Russian doll,' within the outer ellipse. The inner ellipse is rotated at 10 degrees to the main axis creating dynamic expansion and compression of the public space between the inner and outer layers. This 'building-within-a-building' also generates the form of the glazing in the shell roof and impacts on both levels of the shopping centre. The second rotated axis of the inner building, with trees and fountains, addresses the main entrance and the airport departure level, via a footbridge

The clients for this project are Barclays Capital and West LB. Construction is programmed to start in April 2003 with completion in Dec 2004.

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