Luigi Caccia Dominioni - Italy Office Building Corso Europa 11 - 13, Milano 1963 - 1966 |
The
Corso Europa is part of the so-called "racchetta" (racket), a wide and
gently-curving boulevard designed as port of the competition for ideas,
held in 1926 - 1927, with the aim to reorganise the urban fabric of one of the innermost part of the city of Milan. Its implementation required the replacement of existing buildings with new ones, prevalently for office use. Several of the building along the Corso Europa, which is the only portion of this urban planning project actually built, were designed by the architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni. The Corso Europa street fronts are dominated by Luigi Caccia Dominioni. On the one side by the two office buildings from the year 1953 - 1959 and on the opposite side by the eclectic pair of buildings Corso Europa 11-13. This building complex was created in the years 1963-1966 and consists of two volumes with tiled facades. The two building volumes are connected at the level of the first floor by a bridge, so that a kind of gateway situation is created. While the left of the two buildings appear as a homogeneous body, the upper floors are designed differently by its counterpart. Directly above the bridge there is to be found a floor which is completely glazed, above this floor follow another three stories with tiled façades and with balconies in front of all windows. The top section of the building is formed by another glass strip which is interlocked with the façade, as well as a kind flower-cornice made of sheet copper. The mentioned gateway connects the Corso Europa with a large, modern courtyard that encloses the church of San Vito al Pasquirolo. The buildings by Luigi Caccia Dominioni had to fit into this courtyard of mostly residential character. Next to this church, Luigi Caccia Dominioni constructed another small building, which is laid out on a square plan. This construction features two floors and a pyramid-shaped metal roof. It is the last of Caccia Dominioni's inverventions pertaining to the Corso Europa. |