By Eric Oh
The City of Milan has announced the winners of a competition to redesign the Piazza della Scala, with a bold idea to reconfigure the Piazza similarly to its arrangement in the 19th Century taking third place. Designed by Chilean architect Cristian Undurraga in collaboration with Laura Signorelli, Stefano Rolla, Sebastián Mallea, Soledad Fernandez, Michele Zambetti, Max Daiber and Leonardo Valdés, the proposal begins with the demolition of the medieval block separating the Teatro alla Scala and the Palacio Marino, developing visual continuity to catalyze construction and improve existing spaces. Read more about the proposal after the break.
The proposal uses two moves to create its desired configuration: the movement of the Leonardo da Vinci monument and the creation of a lateral, tree-planted area that opens the rest of the square. By moving the monument between the axis of the Galeria Vittorio Emanuele and the Via Manzoni, it becomes a visual fulcrum for every street adjacent to the square. The lateral area is placed on the southern side, opposite the monument.
A water line guides people toward the Via Marino and Via dei Filodrammatici as alternatives to the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. A light slope, following the Galleria line through the shade of the trees that look toward Leonardo, ends in a wide vision of the Teatro della Scala and other palaces, making architecture the protagonist of the Piazza.
Read more about the project and see all of the winning entries here.
