Description

The story of DO IT Architetti from Rome started with five young architects, all colleagues in Massimiliano Fuksas’ office in Rome. In December 2001, they took part in an open, international competition for the construction of a new library – and won. What followed was a protracted and intensive design and construction process for the new Il Pertini cultural centre in the Milan suburb of Cinisello Balsamo. With a budget of just under 10 million euros, the architects were tasked with developing cost-effective solutions for every detail of the new 7,000 m² building.

The population of the satellite town of Cinisello Balsamo in northern Milan increased more than five-fold between 1950 and 1970 to around 77,000, but without the centre developing in accordance with its new size and identity. Significant numbers migrated from southern Italy to the industrial north in search of work. From the 1980s onwards, however, the city began to shrink again due to demographic change. In response, efforts were undertaken to redesign the city centre. A former primary school next to the town hall, which had long stood vacant, was earmarked for conversion into a cultural centre with a library as part of the competition, while retaining the façade from the 1910s. DO IT Architetti proposed creating a glass structure into which the existing U-shaped façade would be integrated. Although, in effect, only the thin, non-load-bearing facing leaf of the façade remained, it dictated the structural grid of the new building. In the end, even less of the façade was kept, as part of the façade around the library’s main entrance collapsed during construction work. While this was partially rebuilt, its ornamentation was not. Similarly, the building’s former red colour was not kept, rather everything was painted completely white.

Behind this historic façade, the building is open and light throughout. Both conceptually and spatially, this principle permeates all levels. The interiors have been reduced to the essential elements, leaving the structure untreated apart from the white paint. Part of the winning concept was that it should offer the greatest possible flexibility. To achieve this, it employs a concrete skeleton frame with a repeating system of narrow “blades” with a footprint of 20 × 100 cm, freeing up the three upper floors to be as open as possible, connected to one another via a large staircase. The only partitioned off areas are the staff offices, a playroom, the escape stairs and service areas. The technical services, such as for ventilation, have as far as possible been incorporated into the concrete frame. A constant flow of air ensures the interior has a pleasant room climate. As such, the lending library areas for books, music and films, as well as the computer workstations, merge seamlessly into one another, defined only by their furniture. These fittings have been mostly designed by the architects, though, for cost reasons, shelving from the old library was re-used.

As the new cultural centre is a storey taller than the former primary school, the concrete skeleton extends out of the top and is clad with a continuous glass façade. The light entering through the skylights along the lintels throws the construction into sharp relief. This transparent skin also further emphasises the sense of openness in the interior. The central idea was to make the function of the library recognisable, even from a distance, an impression heightened by mounting the shelves between the frames behind the glass façade. From outside, one can clearly see the books, also at night when the library is illuminated.

The basement houses seminar and study rooms as well as the large auditorium. Most of these spaces are separated from one another by floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Where the basement extends beyond the external walls of the library above, translucent skylights allow light into the basement. The auditorium with its 176 seats, a conference room and the large foyer have a separate entrance and can therefore be used for events independently of the rest of the building.
The only use of colour in the predominantly white building are various black doors, the large staircase, the pink sanitary facilities, and the escape stairs. At night, the projecting staircase at the rear façade is illuminated from within, causing its polycarbonate encasing to glow red.

Originally published in Bauwelt 41–42.2013, pp. 46–53, abridged and edited for Building Types Online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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