Pichi 12 Housing, Originally designed for residential use by students and young professionals linked to the nearby university centers – Naba and Bocconi –, the Pichi 12 project has developed into its final form as the residence for a more widespread use characterized by an architectural mark that, far from laying claim to an iconic status, blends within the urban fabric of the area near the Navigli in Milan.
© Francesca Iovene
Featuring strong distinctive elements, such as a play of neat white-plastered volumes and architectural details of loggias and windows covered in sheet metal, the project reinterprets the modernism of Milanese residential architecture into an elegant, democratic, and understated building.
© Francesca Iovene
The project’s beating heart is the green courtyard open to the street; at its center a maple tree which, once grown, will make the view of the garden and the road from the windows and loggias even more pleasant. The courtyard, a reference to the urban courtyard that in historic Milanese residences is traditionally internal and private, opens up to public life. It acts as a filter between individual home living and communal urban coexistence.
© Francesca Iovene
The building is spread over three floors, with the ground floor reserved for communal activities and socializing. The flats, of different layouts and sizes, are all designed to accommodate a diverse community and guarantee a good quality of living. The dry construction techniques that were studied for the building entailed the use of materials – such as steel – capable of creating both lightness and strength.
© Francesca Iovene
The façades generate simple geometric volumes, the loggias having been hollowed out to create a discontinuous yet harmonious pattern of solids and void, openings, and blind walls. Clinker was used to line the loggias as a tribute to a type of coating that has been widely used for the facades of Milanese architecture since the 1940s. Set back from the white facades, the aqua green of the loggias’ back walls is the building’s only note of color, in tune with the green of the internal courtyard’s vegetation.
Project Info
Architects: Park Associati
Country: Italy, Milano
Area: 2244 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Francesca Iovene, Nicola Colella
Founding Partners: Filippo Pagliani, Michele Rossi
Project Director: Alessandro Rossi
Project Leader: Alberto Ficele
Visualizers: Antonio Cavallo, Mario Frusca, Stefano Venegoni
Graphic Designer: Marinella Ferrari
Project Management: Marinella Nidasio
Works And Structures Management: Mauro Grossi
General Contractor: Mariani Srl
Fire Prevention: General Planning
Estructural engineering: General Planning
Sophie Tremblay is a Montreal-based architectural editor and designer with a focus on sustainable urban development. A McGill University architecture graduate, she began her career in adaptive reuse, blending modern design with historical structures. As a Project Editor at Arch2O, she curates stories that connect traditional practice with forward-thinking design. Her writing highlights architecture's role in community engagement and social impact. Sophie has contributed to Canadian Architect and continues to collaborate with local studios on community-driven projects throughout Quebec, maintaining a hands-on approach that informs both her design sensibility and editorial perspective.