BBPR, Arturo Danusso
La torre viene costruita su un lotto le cui case erano state distrutte dai bombardamenti che devastarono Milano nel corso del 1943. L’area apparteneva alla Società Generale Immobiliare, la stessa che realizza anche il grande complesso progettato da Luigi Moretti non lontano dalla Velasca su corso Italia. Il progetto dei BBPR occupa il centro del dibattito di quegli anni sul tema delle preesistenze ambientali e sul rapporto tra modernità e centri storici. Aspre saranno le critiche di cui l’edificio sarà oggetto ai CIAM di Otterlo del 1959, quando la delegazione italiana viene accusata di cedimento storicista rispetto ai canoni riconosciuti del Movimento Moderno. La sua forma, che ricorda esplicitamente le torri medievali, porta in sé un passato e una tradizione che vengono ritualizzati in funzione delle esigenze della vita moderna, comunicando direttamente con la storia del tessuto urbano di Milano. L’intervento di Danusso conferisce grande coerenza al progetto mettendo in evidenza i grandi pilastri perimetrali in cemento armato tamponati da pannelli prefabbricati in graniglia di cemento. Un ingegnoso dispositivo strutturale con cavi di precompressione posti al 18° piano permette di realizzare l’aggetto che conferisce all’edificio il suo caratteristico profilo a fungo.
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Architect:
BBPR – Lodovico Beljoioso (1909-2004), Gian Luigi Banfi (1910-1945), Enrico Pressutti (1879-1949), Ernesto Nathan Rogers (1909-1969)
Name of the building:
Torre Velasca
Site:
Piazza Velasca, Milan (IT)
Client:
RICE – Ricostruzione Comparti Edilizi SPa
Contractors:
Sogene
Engineer:
Arturo Danusso (1880-1968)
Other actors:
Architects Angelo Mangiarotti, Silvano Tintori, Ugo Rivolta (project collaborators). Curtisa, Fratelli Greppi (metal windows project);
Litoceramica Piccinelli (making prefabricated exterior panels);
ISMES (structural model).
Building permit:
1955 (issuance of building permit)
Start of construction works:
1956, february (start of construction works)
End of construction works:
1958, february (official end of works)
Construction system:
The construction system impelated for the construction of the Velasca Tower represents a further refinement of the system used for the Breda Tower, designed by Danusso himself. The structural organism is made up between a central reinforced concrete core and pillars, also made of reinforced concrete, positioned on the outer edge of the perimeter in such a way that they do not obstruct the interior space. The inner organism is grafted inside the foundation made through a system called “box,” which is reminiscent of the one made for Breda. The floors of the entire building, with the exception of the one at the eighteenth floor and the basement floors, are made of reinforced masonry. The Velasca Tower consists of two volumes: the lower body and the upper body projecting 3 m above the lower one. The structural system of the external pillars was designed in such a way that they, at the fifteenth floor detach from the lower body and then resume their vertical course from the eighteenth floor slab. The floors of these two buildings were carefully studied by Danusso with the support of ISMES. The floor slab of the fifteenth floor was designed to absorb the compressive stresses exerted by peak loads, so it has two reinforced concrete slabs separated by brick elements. The eighteenth-floor floor slab, on the other hand, was designed to resist tensile stresses, so a reinforced concrete slab was constructed within which tie rods were inserted that cling to the elevating columns through struts, unloading all stresses due to tensile stresses onto the perimeter edge beams.
