LOCATION |
MILAN, ITALY
YEAR |
2020
PROJECT TYPE |
FOUNDATION
CURRENT STATUS |
MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE THESIS PROJECT
UNIVERISITY |
POLITECNICO DI MILANO
SUPERVISOR |
PROF. GIULIA MARIA GEROSA
INF
FOUNDATION'S HERITAGE





The focus of the study is importance of heritage, its renovation, reuse of abandoned urban legacy, specifically - Scalo di San Cristoforo. Its transformation in a new institution serving not only the community of San Cristoforo zone but targeting Italian and foreign public as well, breathing in new life to a suburban area, through the creation of the public exhibit, entertainment spaces highlighting the idea of intangible, local and future heritage while tackling with important issues of today’s world. Advantaging climate change, agriculture, overlapping new future scenarios of “new normal” with up to date interpretation of old, a new community and new visions of the world, through experience, public involvement and physical or virtual interactions
while maintaining industrial heritage. The area of interest is peripheries. From my point of view municipal institutions do not recognize their importance well enough, therefore people do not get to experience and appreciate them. Most of the activities are located in the central part of the cities which make them very dense. Suburban industrial areas can be actors that promote urban transformation in cities. Milan had a strong industrial and economic production, which can be seen today in its large industrial sites.
The car-berth terminal designed for the San Cristoforo railway station on the Milan-Mortara line has never found its complete form. Consequently today there is no use for the building, the idea is to carry out the transformation of the building by
preserving its form but changing the function. Following the purpose of reuse instead of building something new - as there are too many abandoned places that have a potential to be recognized and reused. As Jane Jacobs said: “Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings, New ideas must use old buildings.”
While the project will focus on different interpretations of heritage, the design would explore human as protagonist of the narrative told by the space, idea revisits the concept of somatic space as one that arises from a fully embodied experience—an interplay of spatial, temporal, social, and environmental dimensions. This exploration gains renewed urgency in a time when much of our daily existence has shifted into “non-physical” or virtual spaces.
The topics of the project expose heritage in many different ways using sensory experience which creates memories - therefore creates knowledge. The main idea is - education, highlighting important legacy of the past in order to benefit the modern community of the modern world. As Rem Koohlas said at the 2016 AIA convention: “We can perhaps think of the modern world maybe not always in the form of buildings but in the form of knowledge or organization and structure and the society that we can offer and provide.”
INF Foundation’s Heritage is about building new knowledge with skin of urban heritage, benefiting the new generation, building new society through contemporary design.
Combining research and design, the thesis culminated in a 500-page book, presented at graduation as the final output of the Master of Science program.
CONCEPT
The project aims to explore and synthesize the dimensions of past, present, and future into a cohesive spatial experience centered on the human being and their perception. In an era defined by the digital revolution - marked by the rapid circulation of information, the ubiquity of social media, and a culture of immediacy and accelerated learning - traditional museums increasingly struggle to resonate with a digitally native generation. Contemporary audiences seek not passive observation, but active engagement and agency within narratives.
In a world where books give way to films, classical music to streaming platforms, and tactile experiences to digital interactions, the challenge lies in redefining how knowledge is communicated. This project addresses that challenge by placing the individual at the heart of the experience - transforming them from a recipient into an active participant, and engaging multiple senses as a pathway to learning.
Ancient heritage is thus reinterpreted through a contemporary lens, employing interactive methods that meet the expectations of modern audiences while preserving a strong educational foundation.
Genius Loci is a spirit of the place which is also being considered as heritage of tangible and intangible aspects of a specific place.
Scalo di San Cristoforo has a strong visual identity designed by important architects. Even though, it has never been finished it is still considered as industrial heritage owning its own Genius Loci spirit. As Aldo Rossi has spoken about the idea of identity and Genius Loci it becomes even more important to maintain the appearance of the building changing the minimum - which is only the function - not the volume. This is the first part of indigenous heritage preservation which is directly connected to building itself.
Second part of local heritage is connected to the surrounding area, which used to have many farms. Farming was a very important part of San Cristoforo area. As this aspect of heritage is not maintained in the area anymore - the idea is to revive it, match it to a modern world therefore the purpose is to create contemporary sustainable farming. Which advantages the spirit of the place, memories of the local people and climate change. As well as library of plants to follow the idea of educational institution. The modern farming uses many different techniques invented in modern times.
Contemporary farming is the last destination of the path occupying the last floor of the building, transforming the gallery designed by Aldo Rossi and Gianni Braghieri into a contemporary farm and plant library.
Today, meanwhile people live their lives history is in a making and everything that society lives through in present will become heritage in near of far future. Theme of intangible heritage serves as a good example of how time creates heritage, but this also highlights importance of present - this theme focuses what is to become heritage, what does our future hold and how present influences it. The main topic investigated is - Pandemic - which is present that society is living through nowadays that will be remembered after years and centuries. This theme as well is temporary theme and installations will change in accordance to present problems if the world, would it be an unfortunate war, pandemic, or hunger.
Pandemic is something unpredictable and still unknown therefore, the visit of this theme starts with labyrinth as it also follows the idea of unknown, the maze represents the unknown questions by BBC giving people opportunity to predict future. However, towards the end of the visit of pavilion questions are absent and the space gets narrower and darker to represent the claustrophobia felt in pandemic.
The visit continues with second installation highlighting the different color zones experienced by Italy - Yellow, Orange, and Red. The space is organized according to restrictions applied by governments to these zones.
After experiencing relative discomfort through last two installations demonstrating aches and pains of pandemic, last installation focuses on mental health and well being of visitors where each one could choose the environment suitable for them.
Intangible Heritage theme aims to highlight the importance of past: the customs, languages, sounds, olfactory idea and many more. Although stressing out the importance of past does not happen in a traditional way - for example - exhibiting different artifacts, but the idea presents itself though human interactions, human to human or human to the environment.
Each pavilion represents the contemporary idea of ancient heritage though installations based on idea of - “human as protagonist”.
The installations are thought to be temporary and change according to new intangible heritage themes chosen by the foundation.
The visit begins with linguistic heritage which interprets the idea of language in a different way than traditional way of understanding language as a tool of communication.
The sacred heritage follows the linguistic pavilion, the space communicated the idea of floating and grounding at the same time. The volume does not follow a specific religion, it follows a human who decides in which spiritual way the installation would be used for her or him.
Aesthetic heritage is last theme of Intangible Heritage, it consists of non visual legacy as well which is olfactory beauty and sound. Each theme plays on senses of visitors (hearing and smelling) aiming to create memories that would last.
The project explores of three main themes Intangible Heritage, To Become Heritage and Indigenous Heritage
