VIA DARWIN COMPLEX, MILAN

The historic portion of the ex Istituto Sieroterapico Milanese (Serotherapeutic Institute of Milan) – in which the oldest buildings date back to 1896 - is bounded by the following streets: Via Darwin, Via Pichi, Via Borsi and Via Segantini.

Part of the buildings – circa 20,000 sqm – were refurbished between 2001 and 2006 through redevelopment works which respected the original architectural features. In particular, for the buildings which were once used as production and research laboratories, the project envisaged a functional conversion into more rational and flexible work spaces, while for those which were already used as office and administrative spaces, the original function was maintained. Although the internal distributive characteristics were optimised and are, as far as possible, open plan.

The design of the new development phase, of circa 16,000 sqm, was conducted by Dante O. Benini & Partners and involved the construction of three new tertiary buildings with a high architectural quality and the refurbishment of two historic buildings through procedures and methodologies which were analogous to the ones used during the first development phase.

The new buildings, which were completed in 2010, were designed as asymmetric bubbles of transparent glass to create a harmonious integration of the new and existing building volumes.