One of the busiest districts of Milan will soon have a real vineyard. It will be located on the roof of a new office building, combined with a research center. The project, called VITAE, was developed by the Carlo Ratti Associati bureau, and the Italian consortium Habitech, which deals with green building issues, acted as a consultant. The construction of the "urban land" is planned to begin at the end of this year. For this, a former industrial site was selected, located a few hundred meters from the Prada Foundation museum complex, authored by Rem Koolhaas and OMA.
A farm restaurant will be located on the ground floor, offices above them, and premises for the ICOM Cancer Research Center, including guest rooms for invited experts.
In VITAE, the street smoothly connects with the roof - and the very vineyard connects them. The green space is a place to walk - with greenhouses and hydroponic installations. A vegetation strip with a spiral path rises from the ground level to the very roof. The total length of the route is 200 meters, and the area of public space is about 5000 m2.
The project got its name from the Latin word vitae, which means "life" (more precisely, "life"); it is consonant with the Italian vite - "vine". “VITAE refers to the innate 'biophilia' of humanity - [an idea] formulated by the great American biologist
Edward Osborne Wilson (according to the scientist, the basis of human personality is a love of life and a gravitation for the living - author's note), says Saverio Panata, CRA partner and project leader. - We are talking about the natural desire of our species to seek happiness through immersion in nature. Thanks to new technologies, this can be achieved even in the very center of the city. This is especially true for a building dedicated to scientific research."
The CRA project was selected following the results of the international competition "Reinventing Cities", which was conducted by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an international organization that brings together the most influential cities in the world. The organization sees its primary task in the fight against climate change. The Urban Project Challenge aims to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable environment around the globe and transform underutilized sites into green spaces.
