Via Imbonati, 41 - Milano - Italy
Architects: Arch. Giovanni Mistretta
Architecture, as in the art of design (Francesco Milizia, 1781), requires freedom. The social connotations of residential architecture are such that it must comply with several obligations dictated by 21st-century living and these restrict creative freedom.The factors that influence the design of a residential building are many and, at times, somewhat complex.
By-laws, pollution, energy savings, town planning and client requirements are just some of the aspects that the architect has to examine carefully. However, in spite of all this, the residential theme is one that continues to exert a powerful attraction over architects.
The reason for this should probably be sought in the concept of “home”, the element around which the identity of its inhabitant revolves.
Designing a home means creating a kind of microcosm governed by its own regulations. The challenge of the architect lies in achieving an environment that becomes the extension of the Ego of its future inhabitant.
A building’s architectural solutions should lend it both functionality and beauty, essential factors that enable architecture to continue to be an art at the service of man.
One authoritative example of Italian residential architecture is the Via Imbonati 41, Milano project by architect Giovanni Mistretta.
It involved the design of a residential building within an existing environment, so the architect had to conduct an in-depth study of the context into which the new construction was to be placed, since only a thorough knowledge of the territory would have lead to the realization of a structure of charismatic beauty, while observing regulations at the same time.
The construction is striking by virtue of its painstaking detail, the harmony with which it fits into the area of context and the simplicity of its decorative elements - solid grey bands, which serve to lend order to the fenestration and balustrades, their horizontality accentuated by the design of the tubular metal elements that make them up and by external uprights, thus making for an easy reading of the two real and virtual volumes that work together perfectly.
The construction is reminiscent of and retraces several periods of the Milanese architectural tradition in which the presence of horizontal bands constitutes an ordering element in the positioning of doors and windows according to the building proportions.
The colours of the cladding are echoed throughout the communal areas, which consist of the foyer, the lift landings, the stairways, the walls and the floors.
Chromatic unity is afforded both inside and out through use of FMG Fabbrica Marmi e Graniti natural stone prepolished slabs in 30x60 Quarzite Rosa, which is used mainly for the cladding, and polished Rosa Portogallo for the communal areas.
The colours of the materials used and the harmonious shapes have turned this project into an outstanding example of residential architecture in which the social aspect plays a prominent role in safeguarding the principles of the culture of living.