Great expectations in Milan

Two and a half years in the making, the new exhibition centre in Rho-Pero opens shortly, promising records at all levels.

Italy is in a hurry to reach the top international bracket in trade fair competition: Milan's new exhibition site in Rho-Pero is opening already at the end of March, a few days earlier than originally announced. Together with the remaining part of the previous fairground in the city centre, as of April Fiera Milano SpA announces that it will possess gross event space in the region of 710,000 m2. Not that it is relying on size alone: Avant-garde design, flexible structures, purpose-built space, efficient logistics and high-quality service are likewise poised to outshine everything that has gone before them.

Just a few kilometres from the previous municipal grounds, star architect Massimiliano Fuksas, aided by a team of up to 1,700 at times, has created in barely 30 months an exhibition complex with six one-storey and two two-storey halls featuring gross exhibition space of 345,000 m2 plus 60,000 m2 of open-air display area for big industrial trade fairs or events with complex logistics. A Roman of Lithuanian origin, Fuksas wanted to turn Milan Trade Fair's new exhibition system into a place people would feel comfortable meeting in and a forum for the exchange of ideas.
The project is spearheaded by the Fiera Milano Foundation, a private entity and the principal shareholder in Fiera Milano SpA, which in turn heads up 15 firms, and Sviluppo Sisterna Fiera, an engineering and construction company for major developments. The Fiera Milano Foundation owns both the previous municipal site and the new project financed with EUR 750 million of internally generated funds. The government is ploughing another EUR 800 million into the infrastructure (underground railway, mainline trains, roads and motorways) made necessary by the new complex. Only eight kilometres from the previous exhibition centre, the new facility is within easy reach of the two Milan airports and the one in Bergamo.

The new exhibition centre boasts immense flexibility and well thought-out logistics. Each hall can be partitioned into two exhibition areas per level, so that 20 separate areas in all can be used. Each module has its own reception area, refreshment facilities, conference rooms and offices.
The halls are set along a central axis covered by an immense glass roof spreading over 47,000 m2 - "la vela" (‘the sail'), the prominent symbol of the new site. This ensures that visitors can move from one hall to another without getting wet, whatever the weather.

20,000 parking lots, half right on the showground, the others 1.5 km away, are to be made available in the course of the year; a quarter of them are intended for exhibitors. A helipad has also been installed. For "life outside the exhibition" there are spacious leisure areas on a total of 180,000 m2 of green space. More than 2,500 trees are being planted, hotels built and shops opened.
Complementing the exhibition operations is a conference centre with ten halls - four on the ground floor and six on the upper level - and seating capacities for up to 2,600. The two main halls hold a maximum of 715 and 598 people respectively. Each individual hall also has six smaller rooms seating between 20 and 50; the two-storey versions have 13 rooms for 12 to 80 people.

Perfect logistics are designed for smooth transportation on site. Three rings guide the traffic. The first is intended for arriving traffic; the second is reserved especially for exhibition visitors and exhibitors and leads to the car parks; and the third, reserved exclusively for trucks and exhibitors, is supposed to enable goods to be carried swiftly to the halls. Trucks can drive into all the halls - also onto the upper floors, which are equipped with ramps.

In 1923 what is now the municipal complex was still located outside the city gates. Meanwhile it is deeply rooted in the city centre, extending over 440,000 m2. When the new exhibition centre opens 255,000 m2 of the old venue will be returned to the municipal authorities, leaving 185,000 m2 for Milan Fair.
Exhibitions more closely linked with the city, such as fashion shows, for instance, will therefore continue to be held in the remaining halls of the old municipal site. Fiera Milano is keeping the more modern and functional part, the rest reverts to the municipality.

Eight consortia were selected to submit their proposals for redesigning the downtown site. An adjudicating committee consisting of the management of Sviluppo Sistema Fiera with the support of representatives from the city council and the government of Lombardy and a council of experts shortlisted three projects. Ultimately "CityLife" was awarded the contract and is to begin construction work in 2006. The companies behind CityLife are Generali Properties, RAS, Progestim, Lamaro Appalti, Grupo Lar Desarrollos Residenciales and the designers Arata Isozaki, Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid and Pier Paolo Maggiora.
The three futuristic towers planned, surrounded by green areas and water, are scheduled for completion by 2014. They will mark an innovation for Italy and are intended to catapult Milan to the acme of contemporary architecture. Besides which, they will visibly emphasise precisely what Milan is famous for - design.

m+a report Nr.2 / 2005 vom 23.03.2005
m+a report vom 23. März 2005