Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The redevelopment of the former historic Fiera di Milano district, through the CityLife project, made 168.000 m2010 available to the city. destined for new greenery. An international design competition was announced for this area in XNUMX, through a joint process between the Public Administration and CityLife, with the aim of creating a public space that was at the same time a 'sustainable park', a 'symbolic park' and a 'connection park', integrated with the existing urban layouts and the residential, office, cultural and leisure functions that are hosted within CityLife.

Over 70 candidates participated in the competition and the winning project, selected from eight proposals developed by some of the best landscape architects at an international level, was the one presented by Gustafson Porter in group with One Works, entitled "A park between the mountains and the plain".

The landscape project reflects the characteristics of a city that embraces the variety of the Lombard landscape.
The park recreates the microcosm of Milan and its territory with a succession of environments and situations that recall the peculiarities of Lombardy in which two contrasting aspects of the physical character of the region converge: the mountains and the plain. From a functional point of view, the project aims to maximize the usability of a public space that does not have many precedents, providing Milan with a park modernly conceived from an ecological point of view. The wide variety of environments aims to encourage social interaction, walks and contemplation on the part of those who frequent the park.
The main tool used to connect and unite the park to the context was the modeling of the terrain, treated almost like a fabric: the design of the topography, light at the edges, moves and bends, intensifying towards the center, on the highest levels of the square Three Towers.

The Park will be built in different phases, which follow one another from South to North. The first part of phase "A", concluded in 2013, involved Piazza Giulio Cesare, Largo Africa and the area between the two new residential areas. The completion of phase "A" envisages, by mid-2014, the south-eastern part of the Park towards Viale Cassiodoro, the restoration of the Fountain of the Four Seasons and the arrangement of Piazza Giulio Cesare, thus reaching a total surface area of ​​58.000 mXNUMX. These phases will be followed by the creation of the area adjacent to Piazza Tre Torri and lastly the north-west part towards Viale Berengario.

The landscape project of phase "A" is characterized by the wide variety of environments ranging from lawn areas to wooded areas. At the southern entrance of this first area of ​​the Park, plantings with silver and white foliage and flowers frame the Piazzetta of Largo Africa. Towards the residences, the land is slightly raised and there is one of the most densely wooded areas. The area is home to a mixed beech forest, the composition of which is structured in such a way as to respond to the characteristic microclimatic conditions of this part of the park .
A variety of different tree sizes were selected to evoke a more 'natural' looking forest. Excluding the wide diagonal axes that connect the residential areas to the south-east, west and to Piazza del Fontanile, only narrow bark paths cross the woods. A mix of bulbs and deciduous ferns will illuminate the slopes with their colors in spring, with different percentages of ferns and evergreens covering the lowest layer of the forest, to which is added a low hedge of evergreen shrubs native to the undergrowth.
In other areas, a flowering prairie gives a lighter color to the lower level. The planting mix consists of species that tolerate sun and shade conditions differently. As time passes, the foliage will become denser and the flora of the forest will change, leaving room for species suitable for shade.
At the intersection between the north‐south pedestrian axis and the wooded area, where the historic Gerla Fountain is connected to the Park entrance, the forest trees thin out revealing the Fountain, an element that evokes the typical landscapes of the low Lombardy plain.

Main tree species

• acer x freemanii “Autumn blaze”
• sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)
• hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia)
• flowering cherry (Prunus avium)
• beech (Fagus sylvatica)
• southern ash or oxyphyllous ash (Fraxinus angustifolia)
• flowering pear (Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer')
• plane tree (Platanus acerifolia)

The area with tall trees is 50.000 m72.000, the lawn and shrub area is 45.000 mXNUMX while the paved area is XNUMX mXNUMX.

Water and surroundings

The fountain of the Four Seasons is valuable