The structural backbone of CityLife, engineered to support Milan’s landmark skyline.

The Commercial “Piastra” of the CityLife complex in Milan, whose construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2018, represents one of the most extensive and complex structural interventions within the overall regeneration of the former Fiera Campionaria site. With a total volume of approximately 800,000 m³, the project forms the major infrastructural and functional base upon which the three landmark towers of Milan’s new skyline rise, designed by Arata Isozaki & Associates, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Studio Daniel Libeskind.

The “Piastra” accommodates approximately 200,000 m² of space dedicated to a wide range of functions—including retail areas, services, logistics facilities, an extensive underground road system, and large parking structures—establishing itself as the primary structural and distributive backbone of the entire CityLife district. Its complexity lies not only in its scale and functional diversity, but above all in its role as a structural interface and support system for the towers above.

From a construction standpoint, the building was designed using reinforced concrete vertical elements combined with a system of traditional reinforced concrete slabs and post tensioned slabs, a solution essential to meet the high performance requirements, large spans, and complex geometry of the project. Key technical features include clear spans of up to 28 metres, constructed above the new M5 metro line, cantilevered structures extending up to 8 metres, and live loads of up to 6,000 kg/m². These parameters required a highly specialized structural approach, along with rigorous control of deformations and structural interactions.

HB was appointed as the structural engineer for the entire “Piastra”, developing engineering solutions capable of combining structural robustness, construction efficiency, and functional flexibility, while ensuring full integration with the iconic architecture of the CityLife complex. The project stands as a significant example of how structural engineering can play a strategic role in major urban transformation processes, acting as a silent yet essential infrastructure for contemporary architecture.