Gioia 20 Towers, also known as I Portali, are being developed in Milan, Italy, by COIMA, a real estate developer based in Italy.
The project comprises two towers named Gioia Est or the Gioia East Tower and Gioia Ovest or the Gioia West Tower. As part of the Porta Nuova Gioia urban renewal project, the towers are being developed as part of a public-private partnership signed between the Municipality of Milan and COIMA.
Recommended White Papers
Recommended Buyers Guides
KPMG, a professional services company, signed a long-term lease agreement with COIMA for Gioia Est in July 2022. The tower will serve as KPMG’s Milan headquarters and will accommodate up to 3,500 people.
Construction of the towers began in April 2022. The east tower is expected to be handed over to KPMG for customisation by the end of 2024.
Location
The Gioia 20 towers are being developed in the Porta Nuova district of Milan. The district is home to famous urban development projects including Bosco Verticale and Biblioteca degli Alberi di Milano (BAM) city park.
The district is undergoing a major transformation and is set to be home to more than 65,000 professionals by 2025.
Masterplan
The Gioia 20 project is part of the Porta Nuova Gioia urban regeneration project, a unified masterplan aimed at the development of sustainable infrastructure that will double the size of the Porta Nuova district. It encourages sustainable mobility due to its proximity to the Central Station and the Metro.
The masterplan includes the development of the Gioia 22, Pirelli 35, and Pirelli 39 towers as well and will help in meeting the projected growth in the region.
The regeneration project will add 160,000m2 of office space that will accommodate 15,000 employees in addition to developing residential areas for more than 1,000 families, apart from hotels and retail outlets. It also includes the expansion of Piazza Einaudi in the BAM Park-Milano as well as the reconstruction of public and pedestrian areas.
The overall footfall in the region will increase from ten million people during the pre-Covid period to 15 million. The project was awarded Gold rating in both the LEED for Cities and Communities and WELL Community certifications by the US Green Building Council and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), in October 2022, making it the world’s first project to accomplish the double certification.
The district will also be at the forefront of digitisation with the development of IoT infrastructure.
Gioia 20 Towers design and features
The Gioia Est tower with 24 floors and four subterranean levels will be 98m high and have a total built area of approximately 40,000m². It is divided into two sections – a private portion between Via Pirelli and Via Clelia del Grillo Borromeo and a public underground section.
The 65m-high Gioia Ovest tower is located northwest of the crossroads of Via Melchiorre Gioia and Via Filippo Sassetti. It is bordered to the north by a residential area and to the northeast by Via Alessandro Paoli. It will have 14 floors above ground and three basement levels with a total built-up area of approximately 12,000m².
The offices in the towers will have an open space layout and allow co-working areas.
The project will be built to the greatest standards to provide residents with flexibility and comfort. It will feature a twin lift comprising two distinct cabins running in the same shaft resulting in shorter wait times and more efficiency. It is the first time such a lift is being utilised in an Italian project.
Facade
The Gioia 20 towers feature a lattice-shaped facade with large window openings that envelop the entire building complex. It is defined by pillars placed at a regular distance of 4m and variable adaptation of the distance to suit the geometric requirements of the site. The facade design enables ample natural light to enter the towers.
Funding
Banking groups UniCredit and BPER Bank provided funding for the project.
Sustainable features
The towers have been designed to contribute to climate mitigation and meet the demands of the post-pandemic workplace in accordance with the EU852/2020 regulation. They are designed to achieve the highest levels of environmental and social sustainability standards including the LEED Platinum, WELL® Gold certification, and WiredScore® Platinum certification.
The project will not use any fossil fuels and will have carbon dioxide emissions levels aligned with EU 2050 objectives. More than 65% of the electricity needed by the towers will be generated from renewable sources.
The facade of the two towers will be integrated with more than 3,000 photovoltaic glass sheets that will generate one million kilowatts of clean energy a year.
Contractors involved
Gioia 20 was designed by Antonio Citterio-Patricia Viel Architects (ACPV Architects), an architecture and interior design firm based in Italy.
Gruppo ICM, a construction company based in Italy, was appointed as the general contractor for the project.
GAe Engineering, an engineering company, was contracted to carry out excavation containment works, construction of diaphragm walls, and land remediation works.
Mpratner, a project and construction management company, was contracted to handle the overall project coordination, architectural executive design, construction administration, and building information management (BIM).
AZA, a facade contractor, was contracted to design, manufacture, and install a unitised facade system along with a stick system facade, cladding, and parapets.
Redesco, a structural engineering firm, was contracted to provide construction design services.
Wolf VA, a visualisation agency, was contracted by ACPV Architects to provide architectural renderings of the project.
Law firms Shearman & Sterling and Gianni & Origoni provided legal guidance to COIMA and KPMG, respectively.
Dils, a consultancy and advisory services provider, served as a commercial advisor to COIMA for the Gioia 20 Towers project.
