About a month ago we wrote about what Milan will look like in 2030 according to Enrico Mariutti, a researcher in the economic and energy fields. Mariutti’s research consists of a list of 10 semi-utopian points which, if implemented, would bring a series of benefits to Milan, especially from an environmental and eco-sustainability point of view. But looking at the construction sites in progress, what will Milan really be like in 2030? What are the structures able to amaze tourists and residents? What challenges will architects and engineers have to face to bring skyscrapers and modernity to the city?
So here’s the latest news from the construction sites in Milan, to discover the new face of the Lombard capital in 7 years’ time, with a transformation that will take off especially in the peripheral areas, even if the center will certainly not remain uncovered. Towers, residential districts and millions of square meters of more space, for residents, workers and tourists, passing through the works of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
New construction sites in the center
Despite a twentieth-century appearance, Milan has a medieval imprint and a series of eighteenth-century additions. An ancient and stratified city, it is also very open to change, even in the centre. And to demonstrate that what has just been written is true, just think of Porta Nuova and CityLife, the two districts that in recent years have completely changed the profile and imprint of Milan, which thanks to them has begun its metamorphosis into a large international metropolis.
To complete the transformation process, The Portico is under construction, expected by 2024, a huge portal 140 meters long with a wave-like roof, designed by the Danish architecture studio BIG. It will bring new offices to the city but also panoramic points open to the public and a suspended swimming pool.
But the novelties of the center do not end here: we must take into account the Arengario, located in Piazza Duomo, which will be modernized thanks to a mirrored walkway designed by Sonia Calzoni and Pierluigi Nicolin, which by 2026 will connect the two volumes doubling the exhibition area of the Museo del Novecento.
New construction sites for universities
Milan has always been synonymous with culture: on the other hand, its prestigious universities such as Bocconi, the Polytechnic, the Cattolica and the Bicocca attract hundreds of thousands of young people from all over Italy and abroad to the city. And it is precisely for this reason that the city’s leaders have decided that the architecture of university buildings must keep pace: the city needs new campuses, libraries and student accommodation, as well as a series of service facilities.
Bocconi, for example, has recently completed an expansion with a project by the Irish Grafton Architects and the Japanese studio Sanaa. The Polytechnic has certainly not stood idly by, with a new restyling by Renzo Piano, who was also entrusted with the project of the future North Campus, which enhances former factories and old gas holders.
New towers
The times when the Pirellone and the Torre Velasca stood out in Milan are now over. Today, after the end of the works at Porta Nuova and City Life, the skyscrapers of the Lombard capital are countless. It is as if the city had taken a liking to it, so much so that some estimate that by 2030 Milan will have as many as 100 towers, even if not all very tall.
Those already completed include the one designed by Mario Cucinella for Unipol at Porta Nuova, an area that will also house Gioia 20, the former Pirellino and the Botanical Tower, while not far away there will be Palazzo Sistema, 26 floors high, branch of the Lombardy Region .
In the southern area of Milan, on the other hand, the Torre Faro is under construction, next to the new Parco Romana district, with a cylindrical silhouette that is also visible at night. New skyscrapers are also under construction in the outer areas of the city, such as the Hippodrome tower in San Siro, the Park Towers in Parco Lambro, up to the TPR complex in Corsico, designed by ALC Studio, Our Studio and Solids.
