Hines, the international real estate firm, will begin renovation at the end of this month on Via Bergognone 53, a four-building, seven-story, 264,000-square-foot former post office complex in Milan, Italy.
The project is located in a trendy Milan neighborhood, which is also home to the new Giorgio Armani headquarters, Fabrizio Ferri’s Super Studio and the Ansaldo complex.
Hines acquired the structure in 2000, and after an architectural competition, the firm of MCA Mario Cucinella Architects (Bologna-Paris) was chosen to redesign the complex. The renovation will create a closely-knit campus, including the transformation of the existing structures into distinctive multi-tenant buildings surrounding a new central courtyard. Also planned is a new façade, grand entrance, interior, a glass-enclosed garden, restaurants and a single-level, below-grade parking garage. Project completion is targeted for year-end 2003.
'The design competition allowed us to look at several schemes for the renovation, and CucinellaÂ's sophisticated Italian design was the best fit for this up-and-coming location,' said Hines Chairman Gerald Hines. 'Leasing interest has been steady amongst local and multi-national companies.'
In conjunction with Milan’s Furniture Fair 2002, Hines has partnered with Domus Academy, an Italian post university master school specializing in design research and promotion of cultural initiatives, and Makno, a research and consulting company that focuses on housing evolution, to present three museum-quality exhibits.
The Hines exhibit, entitled Evolving Places, will feature some of the firm’s most important developments around the globe, including the architectural selection process undertaken for Via Bergognone 53.
Domus Academy’s exhibit, entitled Unenforced Concrete, will feature the vision of the contemporary city, focusing on architecture for urban structures.
Manko’s exhibit, entitled Housing Evolution, will feature the results of their research project designed to underline the evolution of the Italian lifestyle - both inside and outside the home, today and in the future.
Hines’s first project in Milan was the recently completed renovation of Centro di Eginardo, a four-story, 174,000-square-foot office building near to the Milan Exposition.
(source: Hines)
