ISOLA PEPE VERDE

Isola Pepe Verde is a shared garden located in the district of Isola in Milan, currently undergoing a heavy transformation. The garden is a redoubt for the community and a stronghold for nature and urban agriculture. The competition aimed to invigorate the ties with the community and to consolidate its facilities. The proposal is essentially constructed as an hortus apertus that confronts its surroundings through an open fence; a perimeter that anchors a series of facilities, both open and enclosed, spreading its activities on both sides. In short, an ambiguous front which both safeguards and opens up the garden to the street.

The garden is composed of a set of built components: a fence, a silver back wall, three modular buildings, and a triad of coloured concrete platforms. This setting creates a layout that allows different modes of occupation and relations between the different parts, and give activities a degree of autonomy whilst remaining a whole. Built and open-air platforms are paired into a sequenced development; a tower and a sandpit give first visibility to the scheme, and focus the transformation of the garden to the street; a bar-office and a stepped garden define a second space oriented to the street whilst maximising the interior playground and defining a central area; a workshop and an outdoor room complete the scheme, they limit the current use of this side, today as a parking lot, and articulate the corner to reach out beyond the boudaries of the garden.

Competition 2018
2.500 m2
Milan, Italy
In collaboration with Galaad Van Daele

Mark