Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Construction site open after the summer. Also in the center is the archive of the architect Mario Salvadè

Milan, May 14 2021 – The executive project for the construction of CASVA, the Center for Higher Studies for the Visual Arts, which will be built in the QT8 district in place of the former covered municipal market at the foot of Monte Stella, has been approved. At the same time, the tender for the awarding of the works which could start after the summer was published. 

"We worked with MM to proceed in a coordinated manner on the timetable for the creation of CASVA – declare the councilors for Culture Filippo Del Corno and for Mobility and Public Works Marco Granelli –. A very important project for the QT8 district but also for the whole city We integrate the Milanese cultural offer with a living space that is enriched from today with a new collection, that of the professional archive of the architect Mario Salvadè, and which will be social and also open to the initiatives and activities of the Municipality 8".

We remind you that the project, estimated at approximately 7,3 million euros, will transform the abandoned building between via Isernia and piazza Santa Maria Nascente into the new headquarters and archive of CASVA, which is today housed in some rooms of the Castello Sforzesco, with a large part designed to host neighborhood initiatives.

From today, following the acceptance of the donation by the municipal council, the professional archive of the architect Mario Salvadè has also become part of the civic heritage that will find its home at the CASVA, consisting of documents relating to his professional activity, which took place from 1940 to 1985 mainly between Lombardy and the Canton of Ticino. The archive of the architect Salvadè will be added to the many other prestigious archives already in the heritage of the Municipality of Milan, such as those of Enzo Mari, Luciano Baldessari, Roberto Sambonet, Studio DDL (Jonathan De Pas, Donato D'Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi) and Vittorio Gregotti.

The structure of the former municipal market of QT8 will be totally renovated to house the collection of archives: on the ground floor, in continuity with the urban space, an exhibition space of over 500 square meters will be set up, spaces dedicated to research and conservation for use of staff, consultation rooms for researchers, students and citizens and spaces for dissemination which will be open to the public on the occasion of events, exhibitions, conferences or neighborhood public demonstrations organized by CASVA, in addition to a cafeteria. The basement, however, will be dedicated to the storage and archive of the CASVA's documentary heritage.