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History and architecture

The large central green "esplanade" guarantees fruitful, visual and formal continuity to the open space, connecting the historic Cascina Merlata building with the MIND area (former Expo 2015 exhibition site). It develops longitudinally for almost a kilometer between the two residential wings, concluding to the north with the building intended for commerce and leisure. The perspective telescope of the park re-proposes the original historical axis from the Cascina Merlata which, crossing the main building, connected the Sempione road to the rural centers further north.

The park is therefore an environmental and landscape "continuous spatial system", within which there are three squares, a water channel created for landscape and historical memory purposes and various paths and cycle paths characterized by abundant and distinctive flowering. 

The cycle-pedestrian connections, whose structure is based on a longitudinal ridge with a sequence of transversal paths, also connect the neighborhood to the surrounding context, while the road system is kept outside.  
Thanks to a free Wi Fi network in every point of the park it is possible to connect easily and safely.

Inside the park there is a fountain that feeds a water channel that runs through the entire park. 
When the water flowing in the soil meets the impermeable layers of clay of the Lower Plain, it re-emerges, giving rise to the so-called resurgences or fountains. To use this groundwater that flows from the ground, man has dug large holes called "fountain heads" or "fountain heads" from which a network of irrigation canals branch out. The water from the fountains is very precious because it flows continuously throughout the year and, coming directly from the underground aquifer, has a constant temperature of around 10° C, which does not freeze during the winter. Very particular environments are created around the springs, typical of wetlands and rich in biodiversity. 
The watercourse in the Cascina Merlata park runs from the north to the south part of the park, recalling in a landscape and environmental key the surface hydrographic network that characterized the agricultural exploitation phase of this area. A landscape element, and of historical memory at the same time, the canal is free from protections or barriers, so as to allow the growth of hygrophilous vegetation and complete the environmental and ornamental role of the park. With a flow rate of 30 liters per second, the waterway is constantly fed throughout all months of the year. To ensure safety, its section is trapezoidal, its banks are inclined by 30° and the water depth is less than or equal to 20 cm. A series of eleven weirs along its path embellish the landscape, oxygenate the water and provide sound to its bed.

The project involves the planting of an extraordinary variety of trees, favoring the choice of native species, also to recall from a historical and cultural point of view the original landscape of the Lombard plain which here saw the presence of the "Bosco della Merlata".

To enrich the range of species present and offer a greater guarantee of success of the new plant, species considered naturalized such as the hackberry and also the black locust have been introduced with a "pioneering" function due to its rusticity and rapid growth, with the possible possibility to reduce it later when the most valuable and long-lived species have reached suitable dimensions.

In the equipped areas, at the entrances, as well as in the three squares and in the car parks and along the Boulevard, we find some exotic species, widely and historically widespread in the parks and street greenery of Milan for their ornamental characteristics of flowering and autumn colouring, as well as for their adaptability to the urban environment.

Between these:

• Liriodendron
• liquidambar
• American oak
• Flowering cherry trees
• Sophora
• koelreuteria
• gleditsia

The Green Ray forms a cycle/pedestrian backbone that runs through the park from north to south, connecting via Gallarate with MIND through a square (under construction) above a large building which will be used for commerce and leisure on the northern edge of the area.
It is characterized by the tree and shrub species that accompany its route in a continuous and recognizable way. Overall, with street and car park trees, along the Boulevard and in the green areas, once the park is completed, the tree system will have around 3.500 plants.

On the edges of the pedestrian paths, on the edge of the central parterre, along the Raggio Verde and in the equipped areas there is a wide range of rustic shrub species, flowering and berry, deciduous or evergreen, with attention to the rotation of blooms and the species melliferous and bacchiferous trees which attract avifauna and insects useful for fruiting. 

Among the many species:

• Abelia
• Caryopteris
• Horned
• Cotinus
• Forsythia
• Garrya
• hamamelis
• Hydrangea
• Hyperium
• Kolkwitzia
• ligustrum
• Lonicera
• magnolia soulangean
• osmanthus
• Philadelphus
• Pink
• Spiraea
• Syringa, Viburnum

The Green Ray is accompanied by other particular species that characterize its path in a continuous and recognizable way: Cytisus praecox, Cornus mas e sanguinea, Cotinus coggygria, Genista tinctoria, Ilex aquifolium, Lavandula vera, Spartium junceum and Salix rosmarinifolia.
 

Around the residential lots that make up the tree-lined edges of the park, there are areas that host flowering meadows, i.e. areas sown and managed by man that reproduce natural-looking meadows, using spontaneous herbaceous species (wildflowers) and/or cultivated, perennial or self-seeding which, sown in a mixture, create very ornamental flowering patches.

In the eastern area of ​​the park there is a pine forest made up of different species of pine which create a shield between the park and the garden of the soon-to-be-built school complex. About 20 houses for migratory birds have been installed in this area.

With the patronage of Municipality 8 and in collaboration with the Green Island Urban Beehives Cultural Association, 2021 hives in yellow boxes were installed in February 6, near the fountain in the park. They were positioned inside a small fenced area, which allows them to be seen safely. Every year honey is collected and a beekeeping course promoted with the Association is promoted and today around 60 citizens have learned to take care of bees and know how to collaborate with the beekeeper to actively participate in the care of productive hives.