NaturalMente
Basic information
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Project Description
NaturalMente is a project of building renovation in a spirit of circularity, approved and started in July 2020. It interests the Cascina Sella Nuova and it operates within the broader plan of the Municipality of Milan to promote and rationalize energies and practices active in the city, through the establishment of a "system of farmhouses in Milan", in which these become the epicenters of larger, external and inside the city to promote new agriculture, culture and wellness, culture and wellness.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
NaturalMente is a project of building renovation in a spirit of circularity, approved and started in July 2020. It interests the Cascina Sella Nuova (CSN) and it operates within the broader plan of the Municipality of Milan to promote and rationalize energies and practices active in the city to establish of a "system of farmhouses in Milan", in which these become the epicenters of larger, external and inside the city. Today the plan interests 61 farmhouses.
These will function as agricultural terminals in the area around Milan, connecting the city to the territory; they are part of the larger system of public and private networks, which operate in the city; constitute the interface between these networks and the citizens as they host spaces for sustainable commerce, places of refreshment and training on the theme of agriculture, food and the environment, as well as spaces and services dedicated to those who need a temporary spaces to work, study or stay when in Milan.
Farmhouses are key points to contribute to the creation of an integrated system with a high symbolic value with parks and streets; water and sustainable mobility; becoming places for public and social functions open to the city; resolving situations of decay, restoring high-value pieces of cultural heritage in the city; developing innovative ways of approaching the recovery of protected properties; and providing adequate space for the social sector and the agricultural supply chains.
CSN is served by the Red Line of the Metro and by Milan public transport guarantees the connection of the area to the rest of the city. The area retains an important presence of agricultural activities, represented by various public and private farmhouses. The architectural project interests the recovery of the historical part (around 1,5K sm) subject to restrictions by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape and the reconstruction of the volume that has been lost over the years (additional 1,5Ksm).
Key objectives for sustainability
The main objective of NaturalMente is to connect the city to good agro-ecological practices capable of becoming a new sustainable lifestyle, while reconnecting Man with Nature and thus returning to be “Nature” as a whole.
Welcoming and facilitating work of experimenters and innovators, to create solid networks and stronger awareness in citizens by connecting the city's agricultural network with the regional, national and international one, thus highlighting the agricultural character that Milan brings in his story as it is expressed in the Milan Charter.
The project includes, in fact, spaces of sustainable commerce, places of refreshment and training on the subject of agriculture, food and environment, as well as spaces and services dedicated to those who need a residence temporary for work, study or staying in Milan.
Specific objectives are:
- Facilitate experiences of Sustainability
- Being itself a Center of Innovation
- Confirm the value the historical city of Milan had as a city agricultural and its contemporary vision concerning new farming
- Stimulate consciousness, conscious agricultural processes and fair, good and sustainable products
- Connect the experiences and knowledge from different fields and acquire necessary skills to properly manage an integrated project
- Live and promote new synergistic lifestyles in which the human-nature relationship is redesigned
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
In the last decades, CNS looked like a complex forgotten building, no longer used and under degrading. The building looked very different from the original implant of the Cascina and it consists of a built courtyard gathered around the "manor house" and disengaged from two courts in which the everyday life. The gross floor area resulted in fragmented e mutilated by decay and abandonment. It was precisely from the analysis of the development of the core housing, through the land registers, that the NaturalMente team brought out the idea of the reconstitution of the two courts, recomposing the ancient body of the building that emerged here and there from the ruins and which became an inspirational and reference element in the project.
The historical and architectural value of CSN is recognized both by the Municipality and by formal documents. It is included as an architectural complex with “very high” landscape sensitivity. Starting from this historical quality and architectural, traceability of the buildings, knowledge from the ruins and the documents, the project reconstructs the typical elements of an original Milan farmhouse with its curtains, the courtyards, the garden, Italian style greenery. The project attributes to these elements the role of connective tissue, capable of mediating and weaving at the same time new relations with the city that has grown all around and above it.
In terms of aesthetics and quality of experience, the project improves the condition CSN appears in the eyes of citizens and in particular of those who observe the farm itself from the upper floors of the houses that surround it. It is from this "elevated" point of view that the project took shape, from the idea of a roof intended both as a shelter and as a connection device and inclusion, an “horizontal facade” under which the new capable functions take place to revitalize the Cascina and interact with the context reconnecting space, function, geometry and human relations.
Key objectives for inclusion
CSN combines the different experiences of the partners to promote inclusion.
Living is implemented through co-housing with apartments of different sizes which include common areas (hobby room, laundry room, reading room, wellness area). CSN includes assisted accommodation dedicated to people who are still self-sufficient and who decide to spend, in safety, together with other peers an active and stimulating new period of their life. In parallel, the hostel caters to guests, but also to those who live in the city, as a space for sharing. Co-working becomes a moment of dynamic relationship between coworkers and residents; catering makes the farmhouse a meeting place and it serves assisted accommodation, hostel and co-workers.
The agricultural activities carried out in the farmhouse have a mainly educational-rehabilitative value, and are dedicated mostly to elderly residents, schools and citizens. CNS is the city terminal of other farmhouses in the surrounding area in order to testify, together with the museum, a working and productive path as well as a cultural opportunity. Holistic clinics and neighborhood services are a way to safeguard the health of the area as well as a support of the guests of the assisted accommodation.
The museum is a journey into knowledge through which people can become aware of their role with respect to the issues of environmental sustainability, in which agriculture has a great role in representing nourishment and therefore health. It is important to spread knowledge about responsibilities and about the choices for a responsible future. The conference room and the library are open for citizens and associations for events dedicated to the territory and the city. The workshops (transformation of food and local products, horticulture and naturalistic observation) and the Italian garden (educational vegetable garden and for horticulture workshops) are further places to meet and "to do" together. The gym and spa offer relaxation for all.
Results in relation to category
NaturalMente is working to improve the spirit of circularity in the CSN buildings and functions.
Concerning buildings, an in-depth historical research has allowed architects to study the ancient "Cascina Lombarda" which included living, working and socializing/ creating culture, all closely connected with the relationship that humans had with nature and with the resources of the environment. A path of meetings and dialogue with the subjects involved in the project brought to a plan which returns new agricultural, commercial, educational, tourist and cultural functions in full synergy with restoration and recovery of pre-existing and protected buildings.
Concerning functions, the project is integrating and taking advantage of already well functioning projects promoted by the Municipality of Milan through the Welfare and City Development Plan, particularly in relation to loneliness (in Milan around 300K citizens, 45% of all families VS 32% in Italy + 76K single-parent families = more than 50% of the population of the city live alone), active elderly (bigger request for occupational therapy, physiotherapy, silver age university, courses and labs, public green care and maintenance activities), wellness and wellbeing promotion, healthcare and lifestyle, social housing and assistance (expenditure sharing by families and exemption thresholds, Dynamic Observatory to have reliable and updated data, Basic Social Service, Case Manager, etc), social services’ matchmaking also by technological platforms (WeMi project) and territorial hubs. NaturalMente is collaborating with the cittàsane Project created to help cities to implement health across the board, individual and community wellbeing and the role of cities as health promoters. The experiences made in recent years in the context of the "durante noi ... dopo di noi” project are very positive and confirm the need to invest in sensitive issues for families, also through more innovative and flexible models of taking charge.
How Citizens benefit
In line with the "2018 - 2020 Welfare Development Plan of the City of Milan", this project provides citizens with a residential offer made of 26 assisted housing, 22 co-housing housing, 12 studios for hostel use. Guests can take advantage of a bunch of services for free or at special rates such as the food garden, the biodiversity garden, the thematic library, the holistic gym, the restaurant and the bakery, the childcare service, the educational workshops and the co-working area.
The offer of services is also aimed at the neighborhood because the Cascina has offices for associations, welfare services, branches and consultancy clinics.
The project addresses the whole city with catering and bakery services, holistic gym, library, coworking, multimedia museum, conference room, hostel, educational workshops, childhood center, biodiversity garden, training.
Finally, the structure houses a multidisciplinary training center with a particular vocation for innovative agro-pastoral and bio-architecture skills; offers educational workshops by combining different generations and / or aimed at specific age groups and skills; a digital museum to disseminate knowledge about past agricultural activities in Milan but also concerning the role that each individual and community can play today towards environmental sustainability and agricultural production.
Innovative character
According to G. Ponti, “It's not concrete, it's not wood, it's not stone, not it is steel, glass is not the most resistant element. The most resistant material in construction is Art." All CNS partners undertook a path of research, experimentation and innovation thanks to which the construction process is addressed towards innovative materials and technologies with the goal of achieving high standards of energy efficiency and environmental comfort, VOC emissions reduction, renewable energy sources and high-content raw materials use; recycled materials used.
CSN goes beyond "Green" and pursues the ambitious "Living Building Challenge" Core certification. The project will respect a series of parameters to maximize the impact of your choice and it results to be highly innovative. In particular, concerning the Ecology of Place, no petrochemical fertilizers or pesticides are being used for the operation and maintenance of the on-site landscape, including urban agriculture. CNS is designed to be a human scale project, therefore, pedestrian paths and weather protection on street frontage will be considered, the uptake of human-powered and public / shared transportation will be facilitated, a transit subsidy for all occupants of the project will be provided; responsible water use will be pushed.
Considering energy and carbon reduction, the goal is to use primary materials with twenty percent reduction in the embodied carbon compared to an equivalent baseline. Thus, this project selected interior materials with lower than industry average carbon footprint for product categories for which embodied carbon data is readily available. Healthy and interior environment means use of safe building (min 50% certified wood used, min 20% products from a 500km-radius chain, min 80% wastes converted in circular economy), furnishing and cleaning. NaturalMente guarantees universal access to its services, products and places, beauty and biophilia, education and inspiration for its guests.
