from cba to cba+enric massip-bosch

One of the main avenues in Milano, Corso Buenos Aires (CBA) is a bizarre place with an enormous untapped potential. Along CBA all sorts of formal and informal activities take place. But these activities are almost only commercial: CBA is a shopping monoculture. In spite of that, life fights to flourish, occupying any suitable wrinkle on CBA to thrive. CBA is a backyard where a true Milanese nature expresses freely, safe from the view of strangers.The question is, would it be possible to disclose the potential of CBA without compromising its current spontaneous energy? How to operate not by cancel-lation but by superimposition, adding new possibilities for uses other than commerce in order to further enhance these energies? Can we preserve its uncodified nature while at the same time provide spatial quality by means of architectural intervention? Can we transform an axis into a pole, a strip into a street? It is possible and we present here a menu of seven ways to do it: from CBA to CBA+. We expose subjects, discuss alternatives, define vocabularies and develop instruments different from those of conventional urban planning in order to turn on 7 switches to reenergize CBA:— CBA+ is a region: its public spaces percolate many areas beyond the strip, generating a spatial complexity and diversity that is unique to CBA: courts, theaters and galleries become street. And the street becomes a plaza redefining mobility.— CBA+ is time: it is used in dif-ferent ways in different moments of the day, it hosts rituals and leisure in different moments of the year, and is able to change its physiognomy accordingly. A pro-gram for uses with no function.— CBA+ is underground: vast ex-panses of unused space beneath the surface are reactivated and integrated into everyday life. They become an energizer of the sur-face, taking part of its pressure and rebounding it back, changing the conditions of the interface

between up and down.— CBA+ is biotics: new micro-climates make new microuses possible for new users. Changed light and humidity conditions generate new possibilities. Plants become activators, blurring the limits between inside and outside, natural and manmade. Green as facilitator, not as beautificator. — CBA+ is fluxes: an urban con-nector that shapes movements and circulations, an opportunity to generate new accessibility to whole forgotten areas of Milano, abandoned to the sole presence of automobiles. Crosses borders into unchartered territories.— CBA+ is flexible: different people use the same space in different moments for different purposes, providing the city with new reasons to experience CBA. Interchange among different groups as a tool towards coexi-stence. An open-standard city for all.— CBA+ is upperground: new op-portunities open up when adding uses to the rooftops, new visions of Milano are created by setting in motion unused height-rights. Vertical communications become social condensers, linking the uses underground with the new uses above buildings.

We invite you to reappropiate CBA in the most delectable ways. Thank you for your patronage. Enjoy your meal!

stressing cbaandrea gritti

Corso Buenos Aires is without any doubt one of the most stressed places in Milano. Milano is a system in physical space. In physical systems stresses can be internal or external. Internal stresses are measured in terms of Tension; external ones in terms of Pressure.If public spaces of a city are Surfaces (=S) on which moving men and women apply their own forces (=F), Corso Buenos Aires in Milan is certainly a place under Pressure (=P).

If public spaces of the city can be considered as continuous tridimensional bodies that apply internal force (=delta f) on the in between parts (=delta A), Corso Buenos Aires in Milan is certainly a place of high Tension (=t). Pressure and Tension are physi-cal magnitudes that architects do not deal with, even if they are essential for measuring material state and continuity. Both are dynamic concepts that involve the idea of action, force, energy in a local context.When designing CBA, Pressure and Tension are two fundamental magnitudes. The basic idea is simple: neither CBA’s pressure nor intensity must be diminished, but rather increased (=CBA+). At the end, an antimichelangiolesco experiment has been conducted: instead of working “by way of taking out”, we’ve worked “by way of adding up”. Like in kitchen.

CBA+ is fluxes

CBA+ is underground

CBA+ is flexible

CBA+ is biotics

CBA+ is time

CBA+ is region

CBA+ is upperground

g01lucia bertaggiagiulia perego

cba is a region

lucia bertaggia(Milano 1987) 4th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Landscape Architecture at Politecnico di Milano.Attended an erasmus program at Universidade Tecnica Lisboa (FA UTL).

giulia perego(Merate 1986) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Landscape Architecture at Politecnico di Milano.Attended an erasmus program at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (ETSAV).

Corso Buenos Aires is a well-known street in the city of Milan. Its most important characteristic is the fact that it is the biggest commercial “axe” of the metropo-lis. The 20th century has been a very important element for mobility of Milan. In fact it links the center of the city with north-east peripheral zones. What we find today is a different situation because shopping is the most diffused activity in a frenetic atmosphere. People come here from many different places because it is here where they could find most of what they are looking for. This action is very fast and frenzied for it is a mere “buy and go.”The aim of the project is to transform CBA from a place to go through to a place where one can stay. Our method of re-appropriation was conceived from the observation of public spaces in the street and the evaluation of its possibilities. The first thing observed in CBA is the high availability of spaces which have a public character. Sometimes it is evident, like a square or a street; sometimes they are hidden like in the courtyards and the patios of the ancient buildings that are now opened to the people.

public space in CBA

existing spaces

new public space of CBA

The strategy used was to unify all the public spaces present in the street with a fluid-like pavement definition that reaches everything. In different situations, it takes the form of the empty space, it grows and changes its section in height and in width creating different volumes. It creates a new central situation that enlarges and tightens the sidewalks according to the principles established. The basic principles were born from the will to occupy all the public space. First of all it means that the fluid goes in and out in the patios. When it cannot enter, it will overthrow into the street. It assumes a wave movement and changes its section, reducing into a two-track street that lessens the mobility and transforms the ground into a quiet road. Secondly, the spontaneous activities that are born and nowadays occupy the public spaces were considered. For example are kiosks, street vendors and bar tables occupying the sidewalks and squares, of which a clear example is Piazza Lima. Our decision was to maintain these situations and to serve them using the fluid that can transform into urban elements such as chairs, tables, etc.

stategy of re-appropiation:

spontaneous activities

ways of re-appropiation:

1

2

3

MODIFICATION OF STREET’S SECTION

1 2

3

0:00

car traffic

1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 24:00 25:00

0:00

pedestrian traffic

1:00 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00 24:00 25:00

traffic during the day

M

car traffic

T W T F Sa Su

pedestrian traffic

traffic during the week

M T W T F Sa Su

traffic mobility future mobility

different way of ri-appropriation consolidated spontaneous activities on the public space

The �nal result is a continuous situation present in the center CBA, that starts from Piazza Loreto and ends in Porta Venezia with the existence of particular situations in the patios according to the form, space and local needs. They can host several temporary activities, green spaces, wireless zones, playgrounds for children and so on.

area wire-less

wi-�

play-ground

play-ground

temporary activities

temporary activities

g02 alberto d’ospina

cba+ is

time

alberto d’ospina(Augusta 1984) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Architec-ture at Politecnico di Milan.Attended an internship at MAB Marotta Basile arquitectura, Barcelona.

The strip of Corso Buenos Aires is characterized by the power of fluxes. This power is generated from the activity of shopping. Our work has the intention of providing the street new and different functions. Improving the visibility by not merely taking out, but through the operation of adding. This addition takes its force from the city of Milan, which is like a big elec-trical web with a lot of inputs. This web is full of light, temporarily on. Our project spins on this web and takes the power from the net occa-sionally. The character of tempora-riness is given by this aspect: when there is an event in Milan, CBA will recognize it. It will show the effect of this, through some fragments that are spread out on the boulevard.

EVENTS at CBA+Place: parking areaWhy: a lot of parking spaces are not being occupied because the street is used to travel using cars and the pu-blic transportation serves the zone very well, therefore there are not a lot of reasons to stop and park cars.How: implant carpets and temporary structures.Materials: pallets, scaffoldings, carpets, tapestries (temporary materials).Uses: diversified activities rather than just shoppingNight/day: diversified activities in different times.

invasion of the streets by PLATFORMs

invasion of the streets by PLATFORMs

Fragments

multi-purpose PLATFORMs

multi-use depending on the event

by plugging platforms, we can extend the sidewalk

+ + the platforms can be combined and made longer to as much as the length of a street block

fashion week comes in the streets, comes in the BCA_ as the form of fragments, some expositions, some hap-penings.

MiTO became known thanks to the CBA. People can watch musicians perform and listen to music especially during the night. Some platforms can host concerts.

Salone del mobile could expand its influence also in the CBA. We can find some sittings, or urban installations that also can suggest an improve-ment to the street.

some platforms became screens (tapestries) between buildings, where it is possible show events that are happening somewhere else.

g03 valentina sforzini elisa tomasoni

cba+ is

underground

valentina sforzini(Mantova 1985) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Landscape Architecture at Politecnico di Milano.Attended an exchange program at TEC of Monterrey, campus Monterrey and Guadalajara.

elisa tomasoni(Rovereto 1985) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Interior Architecture at Politecnico of Milan.

According to the general miaw 2010 theme of re-appropriation of public spaces in the city of Milan, the studio identified an area that has a really strong public vocation: Corso Buenos Aires. CBA public vocation derives from its use as powerful commercial street. In fact the commercial function charac-terizes the all length of the street, from the two polar points: piazzale Loreto and Porta Venezia. A good network of means of transport is provided in CBA, both on surface and underground level. CBA can be reached by two metro lines and the local train system. The underground exits spell the long street, they coincide with some public spaces that generate a special interest in these focal points. We can see that CBA has an articulated section, and this is a great possibility to imple-ment the space quality. Basically CBA section is composed by five levels: the upperground, the ground and three levels of underground. It means that there is a really high space subtracted to the city and quite often used as a public space of some value. We tried to see it as a potential, the opportunity to improve the public space quality and quantity, working on the relationship between some dichotomies: open-closed, free-restricted, multiform-uniform, inclusive-exclusive. Our proposal is focused on the mezzanine level of CBA, this long

subterranean street has a great potential and there are some points in which the mezzanine is really large, so the idea is to use the street section in these points to improve the services that CBA offers. We can call this strategy: PLUG-IN, in fact we are entering the mezzanine level with some special functional boxes, which can provide for example rea-ding rooms or dancing rooms. In this way we are making people themsel-ves as the factor of re-appropriating the value of public space. For exam-ple, the mezzanine level becomes not only a crossing point, but also a place to stay. Through this PLUG-IN operation CBA can be converted in something more: CBA +.

PTVENEZIA

LORETO

LIMA

PLUG-IN STRATEGY

The mezzanine level of CBA represents a great potential. Many services that are not provided at the ground level can find place here. Our proposal is the introduction of public services, which can make the mezzanine level a real public space.

SERV

ICE

mezzanine level - servicesmetro lines local train

The intention of thePLUG-IN strategy derives from an analysis of the existing CBA context, distinguishing also the street level at which they

Commercial use

Services provided

Green spaces

Different transport

Loreto Argentina Lima Oberdan S. Francesca Romana

Pt. Venezia

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

CBA metro stations analysis

CBA +

+

+

+

CBA

M

CBA +

M

CBA

CBA

+

Commercial use

Services provided

Green spaces

Different transport

Loreto Argentina Lima Oberdan S. Francesca Romana

Pt. Venezia

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

UP

DOWN

CBA metro stations analysis

CBA +

+

+

+

CBA

are, they can be the ground level or the underground level. The table above considers the intensity of four different factors: the presence of commercial activities, services pro-vided, green spaces and other types

of public transport. Our attention is addressed especially to the services’ line because we consider that the mezzanine level can be exactly the place where we can generate a better public space.

The existence of green and the lack thereof is much of today’s topic. More and more are people becoming aware of its importance as well as the dangers of its continued loss. It is evident that not only architects and planners put forward the idea of using greenery as a tool to improve living conditions but also people from all walks of life. The location of Corso Buenos Aires is important for the city of Milan. It serves as one of the major thoroughfares of the city which comprises of various activities such as commercial, residential and recreational uses. There is a big potential to come up with ideas for this area to use Green not just for beautification but also as a tool for improvement and change.

In line with the theme of the 2015 Milan Exposition which is: ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy of Life,’ we have conceived the make use of agriculture as the major element of design. Not only will it serve its purpose as the “life” factor of the street but also as a instrument to educate the people about its purpose.

“more ambitious. more responsible. more attractive. more mixed. more educated. more young. more framed. more visible. more spontaneous. more stable. more healthy. more prosperous. more flexible. more linked. more accessible. more dynamic. more operational. more updated. more open. more cultivated. more actual. more chic. more well. more dense. more green. more H2O. more visible. more balanced. more harmonious.”

g04m.chiara di vincenzoraphael causapin

cba+ is biotics

raphael causapin(Manila 1986) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Architecture at Politecnico of Milan. maria chiara di vincenzo (bologna 1986) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Landscape Architecture at Politecnico of Milan. Attended an exchange program at Ecole National de Paris Belleville.

1. the underground exit

2. the green wall

3. the street section

4. the court as growing plot

5. piazzas

biotics contamination, biotics as a connector

where to put green

1.the undergtround exits

3. the street section

4. the court as a growing plot

2. the green wall

biotics contamination, biotics as a connector

how it is how it would look like

ABACUS

TOOLS (legend of the images)

tree as a shadow device

greenhouse as an architecture for nature

agriculture as a social device

leaves for thermal comfort

PIAZZA OBERDAN

VIA MALPIGHI

VIA MASCAGNI

CORS

O BU

ENOS

AIR

ES

PORTAVENEZIA

PIAZZA OBERDAN

VIA MALPIGHI

VIA MASCAGNI

CORS

O BU

ENOS

AIR

ES

PORTAVENEZIA

MULTI PURPOSEGREENHOUSES

OUTDOOROPEN SPACE

GREEN STRIP

Existing Proposal

walkway. greenhouse. cafe. exhibit. food. bar. display. life. green. spot. place. lounge.

eat. drink. walk. play. relax. breathe. live. stay. find. see. be.

biotics contamination, biotics as a connector

g05elena pisoni francesco ballinari

cba+ is

fluxes

elena pisoni(Legnano 1988) 3th year student of Urban Planning at the faculty of Architecture and Society.

francesco ballinari(Milano 1986) Third- year graduate student of Science of Architecture at Politec-nico di Milano. Attending the course of Urban Built at the Politecnico of Torino.

The green platforms are artificially natural islands that are integrated in the urban complex which provide a vision of other urban areas, able to adapt programs to reversible and sustainable energy. In fact, each environmental platform is equipped with solar panels to convert solar energy into useful electricity for lighting installations, providing complete energy independence for environmentally friendly purposes.

The idea of the project involves the area of Argentina and Piazza Loreto, trying to reinterpret the morphology and functions assigned to it and creating places of identity within the course using a green not only for de-coration, but also for a purpose.

Our proposal starts with the obser-vation of the entire Corso Buenos Aires as a place for the flow of bikes and pedestrians, motivated by the presence of commercial activities, while the traffic flow by the function of urban connection of the course.The idea is to create green platforms that add to the ongoing possibility of stasis, permanence, and livability re-appropriation of space: this was made possible through the use of different green materials (medicinal plants, vines, earth), which create a more natural as opposed to the current overbuilding, a rethinking of some of the morphological and fun-ctional outputs metro (underground

enlargement and open spaces in order to obtain a stepped mixed with green dedicated to the passage, and the rest can and leisure) and installation of Wifi which can be accessed free of charge by acting as attractors that promote staying living the areas.We also used the hydroponics culture, in which the soil is replaced by an inert medium (clay, rock wool, perlite, vermiculite) for the inability to grow vegetation that threw its roots in the land occupied by the underground line.

Lima

P.ta Venezia

Loreto

Our idea of the green platform in Piazza Argentina:

The proposal for Piazza Loreto:

g06andrea ghisonipanagiotis veizis

cba+ is

flexible

panagiotis veizis(Athens 1986 ) student of Ma-sters in Architecture at faculty of Architecture and Society, specializing in Sostenable Architecture at the Politecnico di milano.

andrea ghisoni(Melzo 1984) 5th year student of Masters in Architecture at the faculty of Architecture and So-ciety, specializing in Landscape Architecture at Politecnico di milano.Attended an exchange program at SEK Univeristy, campus Segovia and ate the Lund University in Sweden

Corso Buenos Aires, one of the symbols of the fashion market expansion in Milan, has the capacity to have micro-changes in its aspects based on different tendencies, seasons and events. This ability pro-vides a lot of potential for develop-ment. Presently, there a is limited occurrence of activities on ground. The kind of “stop and go” attitude of people in this area limits the use of public space to a more private one. One instrument that could be used for the re-appropriation of this area is light, making use of its varied colours and intensities. The project has the goal of revitalizing the public space and giving indentity to it even in the nightly hours. New activities such as sports competi-tions, temporary markets, and other public events shall occur in the area which was previously dominated just by automobiles in the morning. The destination can change every day and every hour based on public esigence.The project offers a catalogue of the free spaces along the street, that can be occupied in the future. These areas will be marked and limited by the LED lights and the newly re-appropriated spaces.The lights symbolise the different layers that the project want to com-bine as solution.CBA+ will enrich the existing region with a heart that will function also in the night time.

dimension of temporary spaces

1656 sqm

1108 sqm

682 sqm

512 sqm

466 sqm

618 sqm

540 sqm

380 sqm

405 sqm

308 sqm

305 sqm

300 sqm

281 sqm

227 sqm

183 sqm

154 sqm

153 sqm140 sqm110 sqm89 sqm78 sqm72 sqm50 sqm39 sqm24 sqm

temporary activities

workers

t-shirt sellers

lovers

pub

jogging

cafè

water

street food

photos

movie set

street shop

ethnic market

crooks

a catalogue of temporary spaces thatwe can use to crate new flexible spaces with the light

Piazzale Loreto

Porta Venezia

MM2 Loreto

MM2 Lima

MM1 Porta Venezia+passante ferroviario

l

m

s

mxl

concert hall

temporary market

open airrestaurant

playgroundbook shop

ethnic market

street led system

temporary spaces

s

fluxes of cars and people on the ground level 15 hours/day

under ground public transport for 19 hours/day

temporary acitivities born in temporary spaces between cba fluxes

a system of street led on cba produces a unique system like the ones in the shops

led system can produce a flexible situation according to the different temporary activities

cba+ story

street light

graduation

density

islands

area

playgrounds

traffic lanes

advertisements

promenade

colours

blocks

climax

sights

switch off

temporary activities in cba+

lights flexibility

piazza Argentina piazza Lima

piazza Oberdan corso Buoenos Aires

g07michael corraditushar gaurfernando valeins

cba+ is

upper ground

michael corradi (Bussolengo, 1988)3rd year, architecture and building construction student in the Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Milano

tushar gaur (Bulandshar, 1986)Graduated in 2008 from UPTU Luknow, India. 2nd year,Master of Architecture exchange stu-dent in Erasmus Mundus ECW- India4EU project in Politecnico di Milano

fernando valeins (Buenos Aires, 1971)Graduated in 1994 from the Fa-culty of Architecture University of Buenos Aires and Doctorate in architectural composition at IUAV in Venice in 2002.Doctoral student at the Politec-nico di Milano.

Multiplicity is the key to CBA as it observes vivid harmonic mix of multiple characters and languages. Once a significant connection route, with time, has grown in various dimensions and transformed itself to a potential area which can share role of ‘center’ in the Milan City.

It is quite evident that CBA’s ability to capture ‘the local’ has generated extraordinary economic pressure which manifests itself in sky-shoot of property prices. This unprece-dented rise of economic pressure has resulted in transition of nuclear commercial enterprises to chain stores, which are major contributors to the unique character of the place.

Collective memory of the CBA is predominantly as common Milan’s commercial space. In this exploration we wish to retain this uniqueness and introduce a social dimension which can establish CBA as “the place” in the Milan.To re-appropriate CBA to CBA+ we don’t aim to resolve complexities but try to facilitate the space so that con-tradictions can co-exist.Our target area is potential of upper-floors in CBA which accommodate largely private domain and is seemingly non-interactive to public space. Here we aim to carve some niches for thrust which place is experiencing on ground surface and open up some opportunities of commercial

and socially active public spaces in upper floors.

This Strategy aims to

• Work on public private partner-ship model(PPP) by provide ease of vertical circulation through renting staircases and elevators cores from multiple private ownerships and open them for public use or install some new circulation wherever necessary and possible. We believe just provision of easy access on upper-floors can dynamize the ac-tivities on upper-floors and change the character and space use.

• Create some voids in existing re-gular facades and explore possibility of some social and temporary uses.

• Exploit the potential of empty roof spaces and if needed add some floors in existing buildings. To begin with we have identified galleria Buenos Aires, parking area and few more sites to start the spark of the process and these ares can be re-appropriated with minimum intervention.

Vertical Connections

Event Slab

This Strategy aims to Create some voids in existing regular facades and explore possibility of some social and temporary uses.It also tries to Exploit the potential of empty roof spaces and if needed add some floors in existing buildings. To begin with we have identified galleria Buenos Aires, parking area and few more sites to start the spark of the process and these ares can be re-appropriated with minimum intervention.

Fashion

Market

Art

Conference

Happy Hour

Possible space use collage

Potential site for First Stage of intervation

Strategy for vertical connectionPossibility of using parking roof as drive-in theatre and media screen

Miawers052010 10th 01, Milano

curated by

enric massip-boschandrea grittiwithfabio fusco

with thanks to

paolo riganti, comune di Milano,for his kind contributionto the workshop.

further information

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miaw-polimi/5043236205/in/photostream/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9QFK1B7xygwww.issue.comwww.miawblog.wordpress.com

from 27.09.2010to 02.10.2010school of architectureand society politecnicodi milano

from 27.09.2010to 02.10.2010school of architectureand society politecnicodi milano

‘corso buenos aires plus’ (cba+) is the first attempt to address the urgent issue of adding uses to this important avenue of Milano, today a mere shopping monoculture. cba+ aims are to stimulate cross-over ways of living the city and to stimulate citizens to achieve an interrelational approach towards social issues. cba+ provides an intergenerational forum for se-niors, youngsters and communities exchange, but is also an informal platform to discuss the issues and share the ambitions that urbanity implies.The overall theme of cba+ is re-appropriation.

g01 lucia bertaggia giulia peregog02 alberto d’ospinag03 valentina sforzini elisa tomasonig04 raphael causapin maria chiara di vincenzog05 elena pisoni francesco ballinarig06 andrea ghisoni panagiotis veizisg07 michael corradi tushar gaur fernando valeiras

www.miawblog.wordpress.com