2008 Press Kit EN

Milano Capitale del Design® 2008 (15 - 21 aprile 2008) Cortili dell’Università degli Studi di Milano 15 aprile - 1 maggio Ca’ Granda - ex Ospedale Maggiore Hours: Tues 15 to Mon 21 April, 10.00-24.00 Tues 22 April to Thur 1 May, 10.00-19.00 Con il patrocinio di For the FuoriSalone® 2008, INTERNI organizes, during Milan Design Week (15-21 April 2008), the major Event GREEN ENERGY DESIGN, on energy and eco-sustainable, eco-compatible design. INTERNI offers the international Design community that meets in Milan during the FuoriSalone® the event GREEN ENERGY DESIGN, to focus on the creative processes of a series of Italian and international design talents, through projects characterized by a highly experimental, multimedia approach, capable of transmitting design culture and expression to the city as a whole, conveying a sense of the ferment of ideas and creativity found in the worlds of design and architecture, in the area of increasingly timely themes like the relationship between the environment and new design expressions. Sustainability, bio-construction, ecological architecture. There are many ways to describe what, at this point, is an obligatory path to follow in the world of construction and production of useful objects: the design of responsibility. The idea is to respond to a demand advanced by society: to live in more healthful buildings and less polluted cities, to develop an environmental policy of reuse and recycling of both objects and places, in a general process of protection of the territory. Needs that join the more pragmatic and alarming factors of the depletion of traditional energy supplies and the increasingly high costs of energy. In Europe half of overall energy consumption is absorbed by urban systems. If we consider the fact that the type of energy required by cities is obtained from high quantities of non-renewable, increasingly expensive fossil fuels based on sources that are approaching a state of total depletion, it becomes clear that the coming generations will have to come to grips with a substantially different way of life, where architecture and design will have very important roles to play in the management and saving of environmental resources. In the context of these considerations, and in a temporary form, INTERNI exhibits the creative processes of Italian and international designers and architects invited to work on the theme of the environment, with particular focus on energy savings and sustainability: INSTALLATIONS based on the values of eco-sustainable aesthetics and eco-emotional design, which as a whole will form a large experimental, modular composition, with the support of companies active in the field of design and architecture that have achieved high levels of excellence in their respective production sectors. Press conference: Tues 15 April 2008, 14.30 A cocktail will follow Università degli Studi of Milan, Aula Magna Jazz concert of Danilo Rea: Tues 15 April 2008, 20.00 (by invitation only) Università degli Studi of Milan, Aula Magna Urban party: Wed 16 April 2008, 20.00 Università degli Studi of Milan Via Trentacoste 7 20134 Milano tel 02 21 56 3-319/237/320 [email protected] Co-producer: 1 Milano Capitale del Design® 2008 (15 - 21 aprile 2008) Cortili dell’Università degli Studi di Milano 15 aprile - 1 maggio Ca’ Granda - ex Ospedale Maggiore Con il patrocinio di The Ospedale Maggiore, now the State University of Milan A monumental hospital complex, informally known to the people of Milan as the Ca’ Granda (big house), founded by Francesco Sforza in 1456 to unify, in one facility, the many small hospitals that had cropped up, since ancient times, here and there around the city. The design of the complex was done by the Tuscan architect Antonio Averulino, known as “il Filarete” (1400-1469), who describes it in detail in his famous “Treatise on Architecture”, and called for the construction of two vast quads, separated by a large central courtyard enclosed by a two-storey arcade. Two-storey porticoes were also used in the four smaller courtyards, featuring transepts to subdivide each quad. The project, whose area of 43,000 square meters makes it, together with the Cathedral (Duomo) one of the most immediately recognizable items on the map of the city, was built in different phases, relying on bequests and donations, but above all on the popular support of a special jubilee called the “Festa del Perdono”, celebrated on 25 March every odd-numbered year, with great largesse in terms of indulgences. The first phase of the work, supervised by Filarete until his death in 1469, was continued by the Milanese architect Guiniforte Solari, and then by Giovan Antonio Amadeo. Work then halted for lack of funds, at the end of the 15th century, after the completion of the right wing, with the four courtyards by the sides of the transept, toward San Nazaro. Filarete supervised the construction of the ground floor, while Solari did the second, fitting it with ogival arch windows with two lights, in contrast with the round arches of the floor below. Amadeo designed the great central courtyard and the arches of the porticoes. The second phase of work began in 1624 thanks to the Carcano bequest, completing construction of the central court, and building the baroque facade and the church. The third phase, made possible by the Macchi bequest, covers the period from 1797 to 1804, for the construction of the three internal courtyards of the second quad, and completion to the left of the vast facade, a rather bare structure with decorative elements limited to the central loggia, marked by neoclassical pilaster strips and columns, all covered with brick red stucco. The hospital’s functions were later transferred to the pavilions of the nearby Policlinico and, in 1939, to the Niguarda hospital; the Ca’ Granda could then become the Rectorate of the State University. The left wing of the edifice, built at the end of 1700, is based on a sober neoclassical design. The enormous front, 283 meters long, is subdivided into three volumes prior to the two lateral quads and the main courtyard. The right wing, from the 15th century, is entirely clad with reddish brick, and is composed of the portico of Filarete resting on a high base, with the level designed by Solari above it, featuring the elegant ogival arch windows with two lights, underscored by a continuous band with rich terracotta decorations. The central volume, from the 17th century, imitates the design of the 15th-century parts, and includes the grand baroque portal of Richini, Via Trentacoste 7 20134 Milano flanked by niches containing the statues of “San Carlo” and “Sant'Ambrogio”. tel 02 21 56 3-319/237/320 [email protected] Co-producer: 2 Milano Capitale del Design® 2008 (15 - 21 aprile 2008) Cortili dell’Università degli Studi di Milano 15 aprile - 1 maggio Ca’ Granda - ex Ospedale Maggiore Con il patrocinio di The grand central courtyard features an arcade topped by a loggia. The side of the courtyard near the entrance contains the small church of SS. Annunziata, a work from the 1600s by the architects Richini, Pessina and Mangone. In the right wing, the four small courtyards of the construction by Filarete were restored some time ago. The first, completed by Solari in 1467 and formerly known as “della spezieria” is an arcade with four porticoes topped by a loggia supported by elegant marble columns. Then come a second courtyard, known as the “women’s baths” (1473), and third, known as “della Giazzeria” (ice-house) (1468). The last of the four courtyards, known as “della Legnaia”, from the same period as the third, has light arcades for the porticoes. In August 1943 bombing by the Allies totally destroyed the side toward the Naviglio canal (today’s Via Francesco Sforza), the courtyard of Richini and other portions of the complex. The present condition is the result of major restoration work begun in 1953, with a project by the architects Piero Portaluppi and Liliana Grassi that mixed careful intervention and compositional invention. The procedure of anastylosis (reconstruction of a building using original pieces recovered from its ruins) was flanked by a compositional grammar that maintains its contemporary tone, while operating in compliance with the concept of “environmental pre-existence” developed by Ernesto Rogers. Via Trentacoste 7 20134 Milano tel 02 21 56 3-319/237/320 [email protected] Co-producer: 3 Milano Capitale del Design® 2008 (15 - 21 aprile 2008) Cortili dell’Università degli Studi di Milano 15 aprile - 1 maggio Ca’ Granda - ex Ospedale Maggiore Con il patrocinio di The “Università degli Studi” of Milan The University is located in the ancient complex known as Ca’ Granda, that originally housed the old Ospedale Maggiore. The “Università degli studi” of Milan was founded in 1923, as part of the program of reform guided by the Minister of Education Giovanni Gentile. At first it included only the department of Letters and Philosophy, as well as the Clinical Institutes for medical training founded by Luigi Mangiagalli in 1906. The university in Milan is a relatively recent one on the Italian scene, because the city of Milan had previously sent its young people to study at the University of Pavia. The activities of the University of Milan began in 1924. The first rector was Luigi Mangiagalli, who was also the mayor of Milan, and was able to gather the resources needed to also create the Law School, the School of Medicine and Surgery, and the department of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences. The opening ceremony of the University took place on 8 December 1924. The original idea of the founders of the University was for it to be located in buildings to be constructed in the Città Studi district, designed before the First World War; at Città Studi, however, only the Institutes of Science were opened, while the rectorate and the other departments were housed in a building belonging to the city on Corso di Porta Romana, and the medical training clinics were located in hospital facilities.

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