Bosco della Musica

Park Associati's proposal for the multifunctional campus of the Conservatory of Milan in the Rogoredo district is an open civic centre, a place of exchange capable of generating widespread culture and fulfilling its social role. A space where teaching, technique and, above all, relationships – the true essence of learning – can be experienced.

Park and buildings develop along a longitudinal axis. The volume of the ‘Ex-chimici’, a 1940s building that is the emblem of the district’s industrial past, is the linchpin connecting the other elements: the Concert Hall, the External Auditorium, the Teaching Departments and the Student Residence, all developing vertically at different heights from a common base.

The façade takes inspiration from the repetitive modularity of an organ’s pipes. Marked by the repetitiveness of the park's fastigiate trees interacting with the elevations' pilasters, the simple constant rhythm provides a feedback of ascending tensions.

The ground floor is a public space linking the exterior and the interior seamlessly. A place of relationships where different users meet to study, transit or wait.

The park becomes a sound landscape, a soundscape. The wood features a listening-based sensory path interspersed with clearings. The neatly-arranged vertical plants alternate with explosions of more natural vegetation that create areas for resting, listening and playing. The clearings and the auditorium act as overflow reservoirs that optimize the management of floodwater and rainwater for irrigation purposes. In the driest periods a storage tank is used.

The project employs lightweight technologies and reversible execution techniques, such as dry assembly and the use of prefabricated buildings. The end-of-life demolition phases are planned from the initial stages to ensure the project's circular economy.

Park Associati (concept), Milan Ingegneria (Cost evaluation, structures), ESA Engineering (Plants, acoustics, fire prevention, sustainability), Giuliana Cuomo e Simona Morandi (Archaeology).