Arcadia Center

By Caterina Testa - 1 April 2020

Milan is a city of countless parts and fragments, a puzzle of multiple centers with a defined and recognizable structure and character. The north-west quadrant of the center, which developed along the axis of Viale Certosa, in line with the Maggiore cemetery and the former Municipality of Musocco, includes a very varied spread of structures and urban fabrics within the space of a few kilometers. North of the Gallaratese district, south of the Cimitero Maggiore and near the Ghisallo overpass, a few blocks straddle Via Gallarate characterized by an irregular and fragmented urban fabric, a mixture of craft workshops, garages, low-rise residential buildings, warehouses, and storage units, reflecting a stratification of different expansion processes over different periods.

Although only marginally affected by the rapid renaissance of real estate in Milan, the area is witnessing some development that may potentially define its urban and social renewal. One such project, the Arcadia Center, aimed to transform and rethink an existing Sixties complex.

Owned by InvestiRE SGR, a prominent asset management company operating mainly in Italy, the existing building in Via Grosio 10 was the focus of a substantive project to redefine its public image, as part of a winning strategy to reposition it on the market and find a tenant interested in moving in.

Rosario Grimaldi, Head of Listed & Opportunistic Funds at InvestiRE SGR engaged Giuseppe Tortato’s Milanese architecture practice for its ability to conceive of a real estate in broader urban and social terms.

Lacking a confirmed tenant and therefore a specific functional plan, the project’s goal was to conceive a new image for the existing building, retaining the structure and part of the volume unchanged.