Milano, 11 aprile 2019 - The winner of the “Farini Competition” for the design masterplan for the transformation and regeneration of the Milano Farini and Milano San Cristoforo railway yards is the team OMA and Laboratorio Permanente with its entry “Agenti Climatici” (“Climatic Agents”).

Selected from five finalist teams - BAUKUH (Italy), OMA (The Netherlands), ARUP (Italy), GRIMSHAW (England) and Kengo Kuma and Associates Europe (France) – the winning plan was presented today to the public at Palazzo Marino by Dominique Perrault, Chairman of the Jury, Pierfrancesco Maran, Councillor for Urban Planning, Parks and Agriculture of the Municipality of Milan, Carlo De Vito, Chairman of FS Sistemi Urbani (FS Italiane Group) and Manfredi Catella, Founder and Managing Director of COIMA and Oma and Laboratorio Permanente.

The plan presented by OMA and Laboratorio Permanente proposes two distinct areas centered around green spaces: the first is a green parkland – with sweeping linear woods in the Farini railway area designed to cool warm winds originating from the southwest and to purify the air from urban pollution; the second is a body of water - a linear system at San Cristoforo providing water purification, which delineates a landscape that will host both human and animal life.
In the Farini area, a new urban grid featuring a system of strategically distributed public spaces ensures flexibility, while the city of Milan offers development models boasting resiliency and adaptability.

Commenting on the winning plan, Chairman of the Jury, Dominique Perrault, said:“The plan is respectful of the city’s urban history, with roadways, piazzas, gardens, parks and introduces a high level of flexibility and diversified use for the population. It is an urban development strategy for living and working in the new Farini district and crossing the city using pleasing bike paths and pedestrian walkways.

“The plan proposes the development of a district featuring a sweeping linear portion from Porta Nuova toward the west, the Expo area. It is a lasting and sustainable district that is taking part in the transformation of the metropolis in Europe.
The plan reflects Milan’s strategy of adapting to climatic changes and ensuring urban resilience by using trees and water bodies to cool the air and reduce the impact of pollution on human health. The part of the plan concerning San Cristoforo is part of this state of balance: a green ecological filter is envisaged in the Farini area, and a water filter in the San Cristoforo area.”

OMA and Laboratorio Permanente, added: “The area of Milan in question is impacted by pollution and the two new parks are conceived as ecological filters capable of purifying this ecosystem. At Farini, an urban grid of greenery featuring services and public spaces defines relationships of continuity with the surrounding context and will be resilient to the city’s economic development, borrowing its development principles. San Cristoforo becomes a common ground of a metropolitan scale for the human community and fauna alike.”

Pierfrancesco Maran, Councillor for Urban Planning, Parks and Agriculture of the Municipality of Milan, said: "Today we can finally imagine how the Farini Railway Yard area, which will be home to the third largest park in Milan, at least 1,000 social housing residences and the Accademia di Brera, as well as the natural oasis of San Cristoforo will be developed.

“The masterplan is the result of an international competition which included teams of the highest quality. Now, as provided under the Programme Agreement, a public consultation phase begins, where the citizens of Milan may now take part in defining what will be developed. As soon as next week, we have scheduled a public meeting, and in May we will hold operational roundtables with the aim of delivering a future for the two railway yards commonly shared by all, to the maximum extent possible. In just one month, and in the context of Reinventing Cities, it is already time to discover the plan to be developed at the Greco railway yard. We are forging ahead toward Milan 2030".

Carlo De Vito, Chairman of Sistemi Urbani, said: “Honoring the timetable envisaged under the Programme Agreement, the international jury chaired by Dominique Perrault, after working for two days, selected the winning masterplan of the “Farini Competition”. The plan presented by the team OMA and Laboratorio Permanente already constitutes a first step toward imagining what will take place in Milan following the transformation of the former Farini and San Cristoforo railway yards. The selected masterplan will have to be integrated with the new Territorial Governance Plan (Piano di governo del territorio or PGT) of the Municipality of Milan which envisages, inter alia, the coverage of the tracks at Garibaldi station in order to construct a continuum with the Porta Nuova development.”

Manfredi Catella, Founder and Managing Director of COIMA SGR, said: “The system of railway yards comprised of Garibaldi Repubblica, now regenerated as the Porta Nuova district, and the Valtellina-Farini railway yard represents one of the most important urban requalifications in the world, comparable in size to Canary Wharf in London and La Défense in Paris.

“We are ready to commence a collaboration with RFI and the Municipality of Milan aimed at moving forward with the initial phase of the railway yard, which will serve the function of uniting Porta Nuova to Farini, forming a strategic axis linking the city, which will continue toward Bovisa, and ultimately reaching Arexpo.” The preliminary/indicative masterplan will now be subject to a public consultation phase: on Wednesday, 17 April 2019, the masterplan will be presented to the city during 3 an open meeting in the Sala Alessi at Palazzo Marino while simultaneously, through the website scalimilano.vision, a listening phase will be commenced, entailing the compilation of questionnaires. Subsequently, in the second half of May, roundtables will be organized with the interested parties in order to present a final plan to the city, to be optimally implemented, by the end of July 2019.

The development of the two areas, serving a territorial reconnection function, falls within two strategic contexts with regard to Milan 2030: the requalification of the Farini railway yard will allow for the connection of areas of the city that have seen or will see sweeping transformation, from Porta Nuova to the Isola, to the Bovisa axis and the Mind area. The regeneration of San Cristoforo will bolster the environmental system of the Agricolo Sud park and the relationships with the new M4 station as well as the Giambellino and Lorenteggio districts.

The “Farini Competition” was launched by FS Sistemi Urbani, asset manager of the real estate assets of the FS Italiane Group, and COIMA SGR, independent leader in Italy in the asset management of real estate investment funds on behalf of institutional investors and owner of the Valtellina area within the Farini Railway Yard, and saw the participation, in its initial phase, of approximately 50 national and international multidisciplinary teams.

Green areas and sustainability are at the very heart of the masterplan, as envisaged under the Programme Agreement entered into in 2017 by the Municipality of Milan, the Region of Lombardy, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (with Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and FS Sistemi Urbani) and COIMA SGR. The surface area of Milan railway yard San Cristoforo is completely destined to become parkland, while the former railway yard Farini will become an expansive, overarching park spanning over 300 thousand square meters, along with services, rent-controlled public housing, construction based upon contracts with public entities (edilizia convenzionata) and private construction (edilizia libera).

The regeneration of the Farini and San Cristoforo railway yards falls within the overarching plan entailing the requalification of the seven decommissioned railway yards of Milan (Farini, Porta Romana, Porta Genova, Greco-Breda, Lambrate, Rogoredo, San Cristoforo), which together occupy a surface area of 1 million 250 thousand square meters, of which approximately 200 thousand will continue to serve as railway stations, while over 675 thousand will be dedicated to parkland; 32% of the overall construction volumes will be used for non-residential structures and at least 30% for public and rentcontrolled housing.

This will be the largest urban regeneration plan involving Milan over the next 20 years, one of the largest territorial reconnection and optimization plans in Italy and in all of Europe.

OMA, an international firm specialized in architecture, urban planning and interdisciplinary research and Laboratorio Permanente, a Milanese firm which integrates a contemporary architectural vision with a keen focus on the urban context,