Formative residency

The property – Reale Immobili – has evaluated the value of the prestigious building by entrusting the conversion into a university residence, given under management to the operator of the Camplus sector, to the Milanese studio founded by Elena Sacco and Paolo Danelli, specialized in combining renovation and reuse projects to the needs of contemporary living (and studying).

The operation involved the entire building of 2,500 square meters: all 7 levels – the 5 floors, to which are added the attics and the basement – were affected by the complete revision of the distribution of the interior spaces, in addition to the recovery of the facades.

The initial strip out eliminated all the non-structural internal partitions, recovering the original plant, already the subject of various building interventions in the twentieth century, and brought to light quality elements that have been covered over time, such as barrel and cross ceilings, and solid brick walls, previously ‘suffocated’ by plaster.

The intervention by DAP studio envisaged that the common and relational spaces were concentrated on the ground floor, in the internal courtyard, transformed into an area for socializing, and in the basement, in which a gym, laundry, study room and relaxation area, in addition to the technical rooms.

The entrance to the university residence was designed as a waiting and relationship space connected to the reception. The second access, dedicated to the common areas, is mirrored and identical in the materials. The entrance hall was conceived as an internal, pedestrian and vehicular road, which the entrances face. With a precise urban value, it acts as a collector and fulcrum of the entire distribution system of access to the building.

The 19 apartments created can accommodate up to 82 users. There are 4 units per floor and 3 in the attic: two-room and three-room apartments, all equipped with toilets. DAP studio designed both the configuration and the interior design, paying particular attention to finishes and lighting.

In the common areas, the dialogue between the historic structure and the new interventions is emphasized by the raw materiality of the exposed brick walls, combined with black iron, both in the wall cladding and in the parapets. These and other architectural interventions punctual and of significant impact, such as the chromatic grafts and the refined lighting, give a precise identity to the building.

Great attention has been paid to living comfort: in fact, non-invasive plant technologies with marked energy performance have been used to reduce the summer and winter thermal load with a general view of containing costs and consumption.

Once the works were completed in less than one year (September 2019), Palestro 3 immediately offered the students of the new academic year an elegant and functional, comfortable and highly prestigious environment.