MILAN, ITALY · OFFICE COMPLEX · ADAPTIVE REUSE & NEW CONSTRUCTION

Metro Complex Offices

The project at a glance

Location

Piazza Udine · Milan

The scheme

Transformation of an existing IBM office and industrial facility into a Class A office complex — gut rehabilitation of 3 existing buildings + ground-up construction of 2 buildings.

The test

Industrial waste found on site March 2007 requiring quarantine and remediation of a significant area of the site.

Role

Director of Development, architectural design, design and construction management for Scorpio Ltd / FMP Properties in parallel with general management in Kyiv.

Building

250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2)

Commencement

May 2006

COMPLETION

July 2010

Location — Via Tolmezzo 15, eastern Milan; M2 Udine on the corner, Lambrate rail nearby — Metrocomplex, Via Tolmezzo, located.

The History of How it Happened

The former IBM campus and grounds from above in 1960. As I found it in 2004.

THE SITE

The existing IBM site built out in numerous phases starting in the 1963 that was adapted into a Class A office facility.

AN OPPORTUNITY

After meeting the local team in Milan to review the design and budget, I thought there was an opportunity to do more with the facility. Rather than renovate, we could turn the existing buildings into Class A offices by gut-renovating three existing ones that we were able to extract from the existing arrangement of buildings and creating two new ones to form a campus in a well-located area with demand. Having a metro stop on the corner made it that much more viable. Upon obtaining the agreement of the Scorpio managing partner, we delivered the project for less than the original budget.

Milan Metro Complex — angular stone-and-glass massing on the corner — The concept was to arrange the 5 new buildings around a central plaza with multiple pathways through the site.

THE RESULT

All five buildings were fully leased within one year of completion. Scorpio Ltd./FMP sold the property four years later for twice the cost to build it: €68.8 million.

The first renovated office building along Via Tolmezzo that forms part of the entrance to the campus.

The completed Metrocomplex and piazza — New offices created in one of the renovated buildings.

The piazza and opening space between the buildings creating a campus environment.

The arc

2005Site purchased · renovation project proposed

2006PROPOSAL TO REPLACE THE RENOVATION WITH NEW CLASS A OFFICES

2007CONSTRUCTION STARTS · UNDERGROUND CONTAMINATION STOPS WORK IN ONE PART OF THE SITE

2008New buildings' structure erected · existing restructured · stone erection starts

2010Opening

2005Site purchased · renovation project proposed

2006SS proposal to replace the renovation with new Class A offices

2007Construction starts · underground contamination stops work

2008New buildings' structure erected · existing restructured · stone erection starts

2010Opening

THE ARC: LAND · IDEA · VISION · PEOPLE · REALIZATION