Torre Velasca


The Torre Velasca is a skyscraper built in the 1950s by the BBPR architectural partnership, in Milan, Italy.

Architects

BBPR is an acronym from the name of its designers: Gian Luigi Banfi, Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Enrico Peressutti and Ernesto Nathan Rogers. At the time of the construction of the Torre Velasca, Banfi was already dead.

Description

The Velasca Tower is part of the first generation of Italian modern architecture, while still being part of the Milanese context in which it was born, to which also belongs the Milan Cathedral and the Sforza Castle.
The tower, approximately 100 metres tall, has a peculiar and characteristic mushroom-like shape.
It stands out in the city skyline, made of domes, buildings and other towers. Its structure recalls the Lombard tradition, made of medieval fortresses and towers, each having a massive profile. In such fortresses, the lower parts were always narrower, while the higher parts propped up by wood or stone beams.
As a consequence, the shape of this building is the result of a modern interpretation of the typical Italian medieval castle. At the same time, BBPR in this building satisfied the functional needs of space: narrower surfaces on the ground, wider and more spacious ones on the top floors.
The town planning laws, then, imposed specific volumes ; in this tower, the latter being the mixed functions of residential and commercial use.
In 2011, the tower was placed under protection as a historic building.

Urban context

The tower is located in the city centre of Milan, Italy, near the Duomo and the headquarters of the University of Milan, between the streets "corso di Porta Romana" and "via Larga". One of the exits of the Missori metro station is located right in front of it.