Waste water treatment plant
Milan, Italy
2001-2004
contract tender – first prize
realized
Honourable mention at the “Dedalo Minosse International Prize for private commission in Italian architecture 2005”
The waste water treatment plant Milan San Rocco is located within the «Parco Sud», an extensive park still mostly used for farming but also extremely important for its landscape value.
Designed to treat the wastewater of the north-eastern section of the city, or 1,050,000 PE, the plant morphologically follows the existing orthogonal grid of the surrounding fields and is defined by the presence of a 250 meter square basin where the biological treatments and secondary settling of the waters are activated.
The facility is bordered on three sides by an earthen embankment that provides a green barrier against the perception of the tanks' walls. The fourth side, occupied by the industrial processing facilities, looks out towards the city. The sequence of buildings is articulated by a covered passage as long as the entire facility that unifies the plant's elevation towards the city and connects the triangular plan office building and public areas with the industrial section.
Color is graphically used to highlight the most significant aspects of the water treatment process. Thus, the long elevation towards the city is entirely painted in blue hues that gradually fade in a sequence of chromatic waves into light blue and end into the tank of transparent water right in front of the lobby of the reception building.
client: Milan Municipality
architectural design: Quattroassociati
plot area: 160,000 sqm
gross floor area: 12,000 sqm
Color design: Jorrit Tornquist