Architecture studio Barreca & La Varra has designed a social housing project for Milan called L’Innesto, which will be carbon-neutral and encourage community self-management through shared spaces.
L’Innesto Milan is one of the winners of the Reinventing Cities global urban development competition, and Barreca & La Varra is aiming to make it the first zero-carbon example of Italy’s “housing sociale”.
The scheme is destined for Scalo Greco Breda, the six-hectare site of a former freight terminal, and will include 400 apartments, 300 student housing units and four hectares of public green space.
Barreca & La Varra and its partner Redo Sgr Spa Società, an ethical real-estate developer, aim to achieve carbon-neutrality after 30 years thanks to an innovative district heating network, nearly zero-energy buildings, and prefabricated construction technologies that also allow the building to be disassembled and recycled.