Private town house in San Siro district (1960-1961)
via Sant'Aquilino 5 (Milano)
Contractor: Immobiliare Tilde s.p.a.
via Sant'Aquilino 5 (Milano)
Contractor: Immobiliare Tilde s.p.a.
Starting from the project in Rome in the Camilluccia area (1956), Gho' deals with the theme of the townhouse in various occasions. The Milanese building in via Sant'Aquilino is part of this architectural typology and is an example of how, towards the Seventy many Milanese architects considered the rigid demands of the modernist orthodoxy obsolete. The building stands in the centre of a garden site, in an area with a homogeneous urban pattern with small apartments blocks surrounded by green areas. Gho' adapts to the local character designing a three storey villa with a basement and a loft. The building is wisely positioned, so that the entrance area is separated from the private garden, overlooked by wide windows and balconies.
By alternating rustic Baveno granite panels with rendered surfaces, and using Marseille terracotta tiles for the overhanging roof, Gho' shows the will to make his modern architectural language more subtle by keeping it to some details only: the elegant full-height glazed slit in the stairwell, the clean entrance canopy, the thin vertical openings on the service balconies, and the robust pattern of the beams supporting the balconies on the main front elevation.
The residential units are designed to favour the exposure towards the garden with large windows with timber frames - at the upper floors - overlooking balconies with various depths according to the irregular profile of the building. The circulation and service areas face the opposite side, where the pedestrian and vehicle entrances are located, with a ramp leading to the garages in the basement.
By alternating rustic Baveno granite panels with rendered surfaces, and using Marseille terracotta tiles for the overhanging roof, Gho' shows the will to make his modern architectural language more subtle by keeping it to some details only: the elegant full-height glazed slit in the stairwell, the clean entrance canopy, the thin vertical openings on the service balconies, and the robust pattern of the beams supporting the balconies on the main front elevation.
The residential units are designed to favour the exposure towards the garden with large windows with timber frames - at the upper floors - overlooking balconies with various depths according to the irregular profile of the building. The circulation and service areas face the opposite side, where the pedestrian and vehicle entrances are located, with a ramp leading to the garages in the basement.
Bibliography about this work:
Jolanda Ventura (a cura di), Gigi Gho': progetti e architetture 1950-1995, [s.e.], 1997, pp.106-109
Jolanda Ventura (a cura di), Gigi Gho': progetti e architetture 1950-1995, [s.e.], 1997, pp.106-109
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