Valerio Cozzi
Feel UpTown
Typology: Residential green open to the Community
Location: Cascina Merlata, Milan, Italy
Area: 1,925 m2
In partnership with: Labics (architecture), SIO Engineering (structural and MEP), agronomist Paolo Pessina (Irrigation), Peverelli srl (garden works)
Services: Landscape design from Concept to Detailed Design phase, Specialist construction supervision for green works
Year: 2019-2020 (project), 2024-2025 (construction)
Feel UpTown landscape design creates a vibrant, light-filled sanctuary in the heart of the R6 residential complex. Reinterpreting classic Milanese courtyard traditions, this green space , offers a tranquil and fresh environment seamlessly connected to Cascina Merlata Park.
Gallery
Designed for everyday life
The elegant, minimalist layout serves a dual purpose: a functional space for daily living and a stunning visual garden when viewed from the upper floors. Flowerbeds are shaped into gentle hills. This design technique multiplies green perspectives and provides the necessary soil depth for thriving root systems. Walkways are crafted using carefully contrasted materials to deliver a rich, sensory experience underfoot. The organic forms designed by landscape architect Valerio Cozzi provide a soft counterpoint to the sharp geometries of Studio Labics’ buildings. The result is a welcoming, human-scale environment.
20+ Green islands
The new private park dedicated to the entire neighborhood community features a dynamic interplay of green islands, designed to offer maximum freedom of movement for users while multiplying vistas and glimpses across the green space. At the same time, the raised flowerbeds aim to protect the privacy of ground-floor residents. In fact, the private gardens at the foot of the buildings are screened by vegetation, serving as green backdrops. Furthermore, the landscaping project aims to provide a view garden for residents on the upper floors, with the goal of emphasizing the uniqueness of each vantage point and stimulating the curiosity and interest of the park’s users. From a horticultural perspective, the use of perennial groundcover species such as Liriope muscari and Ophiopogon japonicus is intended to create a compact understory that protects the soil from weather events and solar radiation, thereby reducing water requirements.
Feel UpTown trees
Feel UpTown trees are nearly fifty: cherry trees (Prunus subhirtella), magnolias (Magnolia liliflora ‘Susan’, M. soulangeana, M. tripetala), katsura trees (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), Chionanthus retusus. The planting layout takes into accountthe size at maturity of each species, to let crowns grow free following their natural shape.
Green roof & SuDS
The two-thousand-square-meter green courtyard is situated atop the volume housing exclusive resident amenities, roughly three meters above street level. Accessible from Via Pier Paolo Pasolini and Parco Cascina Merlata via wide staircases and ramps flanked by vegetation in planters or flowerbeds, the entire area is an intensive roof garden. The green islands are built using lightweight soil mix to balance the structural requirements with the needs of the plant root systems. The growing medium rests on a technical layer that ensures proper moisture and drainage levels.
The entire Feel UpTown green courtyard project has been designed to support sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) in Milan. Green isles work together with pavers, installed on a gravel bed, to capture and utilize every drop of rain. The concrete slabs and gullies, matching in size and finish, are grouted with permeable aggregates and bio-resins, allowing stormwater to infiltrate into the underlying layers and collect in retention tanks that feed the irrigation system.
The classic Milanese courtyard, reimagined
The concept of the Feel UpTown green courtyard drawns inspiration to the often-overlooked importance of private courtyards within the urban fabric of Milan. Set apart from the city buzz, they are quiet and cool islands inhabited by evergreen foliage and understated blooms such as cast-iron plants (Aspidistra) and elephant’s ears (Bergenia). The contemporary translation of this natural understatement relies on species that appreciate the shelter provided by the surrounding buildings, such as Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’, Astilbe x thunbergii ‘Prof. van der Wielen’, and Dryopteris erythrosora. Conversely, the full-sun sections make room for sweeping masses of Stipa tenuifolia.
Cultivating visions, growing projects
Let’s start!