Milan, Italy, May 2024 |
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One city that surprised me as far as its overall context, and when comparing it to the other places we visited, was Milan. The urban fabric, while still historical, had a much larger variety of typology. Woven into the densely packed urban areas, I noticed some buildings that looked more French than Italian, some that had been renovated to look more modern, some with completely concrete facades, and the list goes on. Additionally, during our exploration of the less central parts of the city, we saw many extremely unique glass and steel structures, which were completely unlike anything we saw in the other cities we traveled to. Overall, in Milan, there was such a juxtaposition of old and new. In other cities, that relationship was more subtle, often using the method of quite delicate and thoughtful interventions of old buildings. And while that was certainly present in Milan, there was a larger number of times I noticed new developments placed directly next to historic buildings. This certainly created a unique dialogue and well represented the culture of Milan, which, from what I could tell (and from what I was told by Francesco), is pretty progressive.
I also couldn't help but compare Milan to the many cities I am familiar with back home. In a way, I think I was grateful that our trip began here, because it had a comfortability to it. Many experiences here were similar to ones I have had in places like D.C., yet unalike anything we experienced in the rest of Northern Italy. For example, riding the metro was pretty comfortable for me, as it seemed to operate just like any other system I had ridden on before. Additionally, the public spaces reminded me of every other small park centered within the urban fabric in U.S. cities. The people in Milan seemed to have a similar work "hustle", as well.
One thing Milan offered that most U.S. Cities cannot though, was the experience of stumbling upon an ages old, massive castle on your walk back to your hotel in the city center. The Sforzesco Castle was one of my favorite places we accidentally found. It was almost incomprehensible it was so large, and it was pretty easy to get lost wandering around, even though it poured the rain both times we visited. This was one of the few stand out experiences in Milan that reminded me where I actually was. It was so odd to be walking around and just happen upon things like this castle, or The Duomo, for example. It's been interesting for me to think about these things I noticed in Milan in dialogue with the things we saw in Verona, Vicenza, and Venice. One of the most impactful things for me to see on our trip was how differently Italy has chosen to preserve, renovate, and honor their history in comparison to the little times we see that back home. Thus, our experiences in Milan add a richer layer and wider perspective to that conversation.
I think this topic could be super relevant to our work in school, but when I think about it, it never is really brought up. Sure, there have been a few projects within our program that have dealt with adaptive reuse and retrofitting, but other than that, we have not been exposed to questions dealing with history and urban fabric at a large capacity. I think it would be interesting to be challenged in that way, especially because it is not super common in the U.S. I can't help but wonder what studio projects are like for architecture students in Italy; I almost bet they experience the opposite of what we do as far as content and prompts.
I also couldn't help but compare Milan to the many cities I am familiar with back home. In a way, I think I was grateful that our trip began here, because it had a comfortability to it. Many experiences here were similar to ones I have had in places like D.C., yet unalike anything we experienced in the rest of Northern Italy. For example, riding the metro was pretty comfortable for me, as it seemed to operate just like any other system I had ridden on before. Additionally, the public spaces reminded me of every other small park centered within the urban fabric in U.S. cities. The people in Milan seemed to have a similar work "hustle", as well.
One thing Milan offered that most U.S. Cities cannot though, was the experience of stumbling upon an ages old, massive castle on your walk back to your hotel in the city center. The Sforzesco Castle was one of my favorite places we accidentally found. It was almost incomprehensible it was so large, and it was pretty easy to get lost wandering around, even though it poured the rain both times we visited. This was one of the few stand out experiences in Milan that reminded me where I actually was. It was so odd to be walking around and just happen upon things like this castle, or The Duomo, for example. It's been interesting for me to think about these things I noticed in Milan in dialogue with the things we saw in Verona, Vicenza, and Venice. One of the most impactful things for me to see on our trip was how differently Italy has chosen to preserve, renovate, and honor their history in comparison to the little times we see that back home. Thus, our experiences in Milan add a richer layer and wider perspective to that conversation.
I think this topic could be super relevant to our work in school, but when I think about it, it never is really brought up. Sure, there have been a few projects within our program that have dealt with adaptive reuse and retrofitting, but other than that, we have not been exposed to questions dealing with history and urban fabric at a large capacity. I think it would be interesting to be challenged in that way, especially because it is not super common in the U.S. I can't help but wonder what studio projects are like for architecture students in Italy; I almost bet they experience the opposite of what we do as far as content and prompts.