Urban Up Milan origins of the future


From today, a highly evocative exhibition program designed by Urban Up with the patronage of the City of Milan will be open in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, as conceived and designed by Studio Azzurro

Milan, December 15, 2017 PRESS RELEASE

At Urban Center until January 31, 2018.

URBAN UP - THE UNIPOL GROUP OPENS THE EXHIBITION "MILAN. ORIGINS OF THE FUTURE” IN THE ARCADE ”.

Milan is changing. To celebrate these changes in progress, Urban Up - Unipol Projects Cities offers the city this important exhibition, which tells of some of the most representative architecture of the Milanese capital from 1925, ending in 2025 with a reflection on the suburbs and their essential role in the future of the city. The city of Milan is experiencing a phase of great international momentum and urban transformation, to which the Unipol Group is taking part through the Urban Up project; it promotes real estate projects that, although very different, share the pursuit of the highest quality standards, in line with other works in progress.

THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition is conceptually divided into three areas, each of which has a different set-up with special features, which intends to interpret and represent the city, its origins and its future.

The first area: the Ring of Time. Interactive installation for a ring of 12 monitors, including 4 sensitive touch-screens. An imaginary skyline of the last 100 years of the city of Milan from 1925 to 2025 is seen on screens, in which the past, present and future merge together in a unique “landscape” nearly without interruption. Thirty-two silhouettes of 32 architectures from the last century are the milestones of this journey through time in the city and its urban structure. They are emblematic references that remain recognizable and important for those who live in and experience Milan. When they change color from black and white to red, some of the silhouettes in the skyline become buttons to activate and display the in-depth videos related to that particular architectural or urban creation on each of the four touch screens.

The Ring of Time is hence a multi-user installation with interactive possibilities that allows the public to visually travel in time, and to relive the history of urban development in Milan in the last decades through the most important and significant buildings/projects in a continuous and synchronized projection. It seeks to recount the history of the city of Milan and its most representative architecture along an imaginary 100-year-long timeline. This information, which is comprised of vintage images, sketches, renderings, plans, and project drawings, touch upon the history of the city’s architecture with elegance: starting from the skyscrapers of Piazza Piemonte in 1925 to the Unipol Group Headquarters designed by Cucinella to be inaugurated in 2021 , ending with the Periphery Plan of the City of Milan, ideally in 2025. It is In the midst of an “anthology” of Milanese architecture: from Torre Velasca, Torre Galfa (both being redeveloped by the Unipol Group), the Pirelli Skyscraper, and the White Towers of Gratosoglio to Palazzo Lombardia, the new headquarters of the Region completed in 2010.

Second area: Models
In the outlying areas of the Urban Center are three design models related to three important projects that the Unipol Group has underway in Milan: the Group’s Management Center (Arch. Mario Cucinella), De Castilia 23 (CMR Project) and Torre GalFa (Arch. Maurice Kanah). Each model is “accompanied” by a dedicated monitor, where sketches, floor plans, renderings and images are projected, as well as the story of the project through interviews with the client and designers.

Third Area: Urban up - Milan Virtual Experience
It is an incredible virtual experience of the five major real estate projects of the Group in progress in Milan (brochures annexed) that provides an interactive trip in the 3D map of the city thanks to the use of VIVE technology, which is currently the most innovative in the field of virtual reality. The public will be able to “walk” through a Milan never seen before, interact with the surrounding environment, select video contributions, activate informative graphics and experiment with special interactions with the virtual environment. It is a unique experience whose positive effects have become the subject of studies and research promoted by Proxima Milano and implemented by the Bicocca University of Milan. The results are now being submitted to the Journal of Business Research, one of the most prestigious international academic journals.

Information on the exhibition
Milan. Origins of the Future
Urban Center - Milan, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (corner of Piazza della Scala)
from December 15, 2017 to January 31, 2018
Mon - Fri 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
(Virtual Reality: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm)

URBAN UP
Urban Up is the project created by the Unipol Group dedicated to the real estate redevelopment of buildings owned by the group, which is aimed at enhancing some of the most significant buildings in the Italian architectural park. The Urban Up project, which started from the city of Milan, continues with the promotion of additional structures in several Italian cities. It is a project that combines innovation and tradition with the aim of enhancing the beauty and importance of true icons across the Italian urban landscape. Through modernization and renovation works, skyscrapers, facilities, and historic buildings will once again take on a prominent role in the urban fabric.