BUILD - 2019 Home And Garden Awards

Build 2019 Home And Garden Awards 18 Best Urban Architectural Design Firm 2019 - Milan Based in Milan, Barreca & La Varra draws on the expertise of its two Founders and namesakes to provide innovative design services to a range of clients across the residential and commercial sectors. We profile the firm to find out more about the range of services it has to offer. and has been a reference element, among others, for buildings that, inte- grating with natural elements, provide a particular declination of the idea, so popular today, of the sustainable green building. This year they will finish an exceptional construction site from this point of view: in Liguria, on the promontory of Punta Murena in Alassio, in the complex of historical Villa Brunati rich in centuries-old essences, they redesigned the paths that lead to the private beach, and ten new residential architectures reserve an exclusive and intimate relationship with the extreme nature of the place. The small houses are built dry, are recyclable, reversible and covered in burned larch wood slats. Alongside its work in residential design, the firm also offers office design. For example, after the construction of the B5 building for RCS Mediagroup in 2011, the largest publishing house in Italy, in 2018 the new Siemens Headquarters were inaugurated in Milan: 16,000 sqm of smartworking spaces, within a masterplan, again on a project by Barreca & La Varra, of 86,000 sqm. The building, certified LEED Gold, consists of a single “E” body arranged around two courtyards enriched with plant elements, on which the collective services overlook the ground floor. A stone’s throw away from the Milan Cathedral, in the same block of the first Italian Starbucks, the studio is completing for Hines the renovation of two buildings of the late nineteenth century at the corner between via Cantù and via Orefici that will host offices and retail: the main court, closed with a glass cover, and the attics, become occasions for contemporary architectural grafts. Residential and office design are key to the firm’s success, but they are not the sole areas of its focus. Currently, the studio is working on three very iconic projects that will create new urban landmarks: in Milan, the new headquarters of the ICS School Campus in Symbiosis District, and the new Milan Polyclinic, which will have a 6.000 sqm therapeutic garden on the rooftop, the largest in the world, 500 meters away from the Duomo. In Tortona instead, along the highway that connects Milan and Genoa, the building for the Bertram Derthona Basket, a “flying saucer” of 80 m in diameter, will be part of the “Citadel of Sport” for the Gavio Group, the new headquarters of the team on an area of about 68.000 sqm. Looking ahead, Barreca & La Varra will continue to undertake exciting new projects to ensure the studio’s ongoing success. ounders Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra celebrated in 2018 the first 10 years of activity of their architectural studio, founded in Milan in 2008, after having been already founding partners in 1999 of Boeri Studio with Stefano Boeri. Over the years the professional activity of the two architects has acquired national and international importance in the field of urban and architectural design, through participation in competitions and the holding of public and private offices for important Italian and foreign groups. Today, around twenty employees with an average age of 30 join them, crossing heterogeneous skills ranging from architecture, urban planning, landscape and interior design support the firm and drive it to success. The Vertical Forest of Milan realized for Hines is their best-known project: opened in 2014 as part of the project of urban regeneration of the Porta Nuova area, it is gaining more and more success and attention all over the world from the experts, and not only. The “RIBA Award for International Excellence” of 2018 is added to the 2015 “Best Tall Building Worldwide Award” of the CTBUH in Chicago and to the 2014 “International Highrise Award” of the DAM in Frankfurt. The two residential towers of 110 and 76 m house 800 trees, 4.500 bushes and 15.000 plants. Since the inauguration it has had a great media echo F Jan19513 Company: Barreca & La Varra Contact: Gianandrea Barreca, Giovanni La Varra Website: www.barrecaelavarra.it Punta Murena in Alassio