Ripamonti Oasis

At the city’s edge, just before entering the vast “sea” of Lombardy’s agricultural landscape in the Parco Sud, the design proposal for the redevelopment and change of use of two tower buildings in the Ripamonti area of Milan envisions the creation of an oasis.

The design focuses on two of the five existing towers but aims to imagine an integrated, comprehensive future for this micro-landscape of 1990s office buildings. The goal is to reconstruct a place for contemporary living, with buildings of varying sizes and heights, an open and simple architectural language, and a sequence of open green and paved spaces that possess an urban character. Vehicular traffic is limited and non-invasive. A continuous loggia wraps around the existing building, “taming” it for a new, more vibrant life.

Oasi Ripamonti offers a meaningful alternative for a growing city: living in a tall building with large balconies or terraces, surrounded by open space that fosters a sense of community and provides a pleasant place to gather and socialize. It is conveniently located near the ring road and major metropolitan-scale services. Oasi Ripamonti brings together two worlds. On one side, the tall building—once a tertiary-use structure with a “metropolitan” image—takes on a new, domestic character. On the other, the vast backdrop of the Parco Sud landscape unfolds: a broad, evocative setting rich in environmental and scenic quality, accessible and poised to become the defining feature of the future metropolitan park that Milan still lacks.

The cycling routes of the agricultural park lead to Oasi Ripamonti and from there branch out toward the city. That’s what oases are for.