Mario Cucinella designs the new face of Milan with the Santa Giulia masterplan

Financed by the Australian developer Lendlease, Mario Cucinella Architects studio has recently presented its new masterplan for the Milan Santa Giulia district, less than two years after the project developed for Milan's “future city” MIND. Located in the south-east of the Lombard capital, the area in question is located close to three works under construction for the 2026 Winter Olympics, including the PalaItalia Arena designed by David Chipperfield Architects and Arup.

With an estimated investment of over 3.5 million euro, the start of the first construction site this year, and completion in less than ten years, Milano Santa Giulia qualifies as one of the largest urban redevelopment projects currently being promoted in Italy. Developed on an area of about 65 hectares (more than half the surface area of the entire district), the project envisages an important functional mix, that will set up an urban “network” serving not only the new distric. Here you'll find the third largest urban park in Milan, around which four important public functions are planned: the Children’s Museum, a second seat of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music “il Bosco della Musica”, an Arena for events and a new generation shopping area. At the heart of the project is its dialogue with the landscape: the mobility and transport infrastructures of the entire district connect to the urban green spaces, the agricultural areas in the south-eastern part of the area, and the watercourses. 

“The Milan Santa Giulia masterplan takes inspiration from plants, leaves and their veins: elements that are in continuous exchange with the surrounding environment and adapt to the climate,” explains Mario Cucinella in describing the proposal. “The urban design is inspired by an ecosystem in which the organic pathways act as veins that nourish the entire system and the built volumes merge with the natural elements.”

Compositively, the organisation of the masterplan is given by two main axes: a diagonal  with a mainly cycle-pedestrian and public transport vocation that crosses the park and the pedestrian axis facing the park and skirting a future large lake. On the structure of these routes is grafted the design of the urban boulevards that make up the urban fabric of the district, connecting a system of squares and public functions with open spaces, tree-lined avenues, residential streets and gardens.