Completed in 2020, Living in the Blue is the project designed by Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia in the area of Lambrate in Milan, currently undergoing an overall redevelopment: the project focuses on the design of the open/green spaces to define the design of the residential volumes.
There are two simple buildings, with a L layout, that articulate through the volumes of the balconies, true continuations of the internal space towards the outside; the two buildings are composed and decomposed in a continuous dialogue with the matter and its relationship with the light: iridescent with the ceramic, in “chiaroscuro” with the wood, homogeneous on the plastered walls drawn in a chromatic geometric sequence as a tribute to the works “Positive-Negative” by Bruno Munari.
The two buildings develop for nine floors above ground, delimiting a new public square open towards the city: the ground floor hosts spaces dedicated to commerce and services for citizens, as well as the entrances to all the halls of the stairwells; in addition, the porch spaces that completely cross the buildings connect the central square with the Park that surrounds the two buildings to the south and west.
The project consists of 104 housing units, 46 rental accommodations, 5 commercial spaces, and 2 multi-family housing (cohousing) with 26 beds; moreover, there are a multipurpose room for common recreational and meeting activities for the inhabitants, a “workshop” space for hobby activities and a common laundry for the condominium; in every apartment, the full-height windows designed for all the rooms further emphasize the permeability between inside and outside.
Finally, the facades of the two buildings are conceived to underline the value of the central square thanks to the use of an iridescent and three-dimensional material such as blue ceramic, while all the facades that face the urban context are characterized by the use of different colored plasters.
Living in the Blue is an extraordinary architecture, another step on the path of Milan’s renewal.
