Cooperative Housing
Milan, 2008
Stage: Competition / Winning Proposal
Clients: Confcooperative, Federabitazione
With: Giovanna Perretti, Giusy Ricci, Bernardina Borra, Demoarchitects
A residential satellite district becomes truly peripheral when it loses the sense of humanity that people instinctively associate with the idea of “home.” This condition generates what might be called an existential suburbanity, where distance from the city center is perceived as unbridgeable and the neighborhood remains locked in a monofunctional reality, detached from the urban fabric.
This proposal for cooperative collective housing in Milan seeks to counter that condition by physically and conceptually reconciling two opposing models of living. On one side lies the legacy of the functionalist city, shaped by CIAM housing standards and their rigid typologies. On the other side stands the complexity of contemporary life, where housing must accommodate a wide variety of users: singles, elderly residents, home-based workers, and precarious young people.
The project aims to embrace this diversity, integrating different forms and functions within a unified architectural framework. The new building is conceived as a synthesis of two distinct morphological footprints: the rational imprint of residential blocks and the industrial traces of the area’s former and existing factories. The result is a hybrid typology that reimagines the relationship between collective living, individual needs, and the evolving urban context.
