The Milano Cortina Olympic Village may never steal the spotlight from the neighboring Prada Foundation, with its gold-leafed tower and retractable stainless-steel walls. But the global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed the athletes’ housing, on the site of a former rail yard, to make an important contribution to the Porta Romana area. The 2026 Winter Games, in Milan and elsewhere in Northern Italy, will span just over two weeks, from February 6 through 22 (followed by the Paralympics in March). “But I had the next 50 years to think about,” says SOM partner Colin Koop, the project’s principal designer.
After the Games end, a few adjustments will turn the Village into dorms for some 1,700 students. Its six long buildings contain seven floors of mainly single rooms with bathrooms. Stores, restaurants, and bars, in addition to student amenities and service facilities, will activate the ground level and also fill a pair of reconditioned train sheds. The idea is to foster social interaction, which is also the point of the terraces that connect the buildings at the east and west ends of the site. Nearly 13 feet deep, the walkways are no mere passages—they’ll be places for residents to study, eat, or just hang out. Plants native to the region will screen the paths without fully obscuring them.
To save his client, a private developer, time and money, Koop relied heavily on prefabrication: After each concrete floor slab, supported by steel columns and precast beams and planks, was poured, ready-made bathrooms were craned into place. Then the next slab was poured, the next set of bathrooms was positioned, and so on. The off-white façades consist of wooden panels, also factory-made, plastered over by Italian craftsmen. The roofs support enough photovoltaic panels to supply about one third of the buildings’ electricity.
But the architect had much more than speed and efficiency in mind. He believes the buildings will become an asset to the neighborhood at large. With the ground-floor businesses, the “destination train sheds,” and pathways that allow the public to meander through a parklike setting, “We have all the ingredients of a true community,” Koop says.
This story appears in the AD100 issue. Never miss a story when you subscribe to AD.
