PARCO PORTELLO (MILAN, ITALY)
In November 2022, after more than 20 years, work on the Portello Park on the site of a former Alfa Romeo factory in Milan ended. It was Charles Jencks (1939 – 2019), whose principles guided the structure of the park and the redevelopment process in collaboration with Andreas Kipar (LAND S.r.l.).
The park develops at different heights recovered through a system of paths called “Time Walk”. It is structured by a series of circular spatial lines that form the construction lines of the three ‘green sculptures’, which together with the small Time Garden represent different scans of time: prehistory, history, present and individual time.
In the recently opened section, the upward spiral path features shaded resting places with benches. Fifty trees including maples, liriodendrons, lime trees, mulberry trees and sophoras alternate with 1,500 square metres of colourful flowerbeds with herbaceous and shrubby plants and groups of rhododendrons.
The intervention includes two lower sinuous hills creating a secluded space for two ponds. The area is quiet, which is a real rarity for a metropolis like Milan. The ponds are surrounded, as if in an embrace, by a very long circular bench next to which several fir trees have been planted to provide shade and shelter.
Portello Park, with its approximately 73,000 square metres, is now a green lung for the whole of Milan and is a further key element in the green axes plan for Milan.
Design: Andreas Kipar (LAND), Charles Jencks (†)
Photo: Nicola Colella
