Milan and the Water

It was the year 1926 when in the pages of the magazine "Il Secolo" one read about the Albergo Diurno Venezia as a second center of Milan: an Art Nouveau-style space - located under Piazza Oberdan and designed by architect Pietro Portaluppi - dedicated to wellness and body care. It was in this place that the traveler, getting off the train, had a way to take a shower, wash his coalstained clothes, fix his beard and hair, and purchase any effects of personal use. The Albergo Diurno Venezia was, therefore, not just a place for "bathing": its beauty and centrality made it a new meeting place for the city of Milan. Despite the restoration work that has taken place over the years, today the site is, unfortunately, closed and abandoned.

The project aims to restore the original function of the place, thanks to a long underground spa space characterized - as it was in the Diurno - by a central void and an occupied perimeter. Thus was born a place of light, well-being and, above all, contemplation. A laterally illuminated water space, whose mouths of light, in the square above, are transformed into sculptural elements that punctuate with small supporting functions an ideal urban space.