ANOTHER PRESTIGIOUS INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR FIERAMILANO, RHO
Milan, May 2007. Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano (the new Milan Fair complex) is the winner of the prestigious "2007 International Architecture Award". The award, organized jointly by the Chicago Athenaeum – the International Museum of Architecture and Design based in Chicago (United States) – and the Metropolitan Arts Press, aims to draw attention to excellence in projects and architectural works around the world. The award celebrates, in particular, the value of “good design”, innovation, the use of new materials and focus on environmental impact.
Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano, built by Fondazione Fiera Milano through the Sviluppo Sistema Fiera company which it controls, meets all the tender criteria and was singled out together with 57 other projects, from among more than 500 projects submitted from around the world (Europe, United States, Asia, Africa and Australia).
The 57 winning projects span all the areas of building design: from the innovative design of skyscrapers to corporate headquarters, from office buildings to cultural and sacred spaces, from residential facilities to airports and urban planning projects.
A jury of Russian architects sponsored by the Union of Architects met in Moscow last February to announce the winners. Among these, Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano, was awarded for its striking architecture which is encapsulated in the huge glass and steel sail that acts as a covering for the entire main corridor connecting the east and west entrances.
This is the third international architecture award assigned to Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano since its inauguration. In October 2006, it won the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Global Excellence Award – the international award for architectural excellence – and in May of the same year was proclaimed winner of the ULI Europe Excellence Award.
The Chicago Athenaeum - Museum of Architecture and Design
The Chicago Athenaeum is one of the most authoritative international museums of architecture and design. Founded in 1988, it is dedicated to all the areas that span from architecture, industrial and product design to graphics and urban planning.
In addition to the Chicago museum, it has other offices in the United States (Schaumburg and Galena in Illinois) and in Europe (Athens and Dublin).
The mission of the museum is to educate the public about aesthetics and to enable it to recognize “good design”, by creating a sense of awareness and an understanding of how the value of “beauty” can have a positive impact on the human environment.
This refers to design in all its applications, from large-scale projects to everyday objects, a concept that can be summed up with the words "from the spoon to the city ".
The museum aims to promote this mission through the International Architecture Award 2007.
Fieramilano, Rho (Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano)
Nuovo Polo Fiera Milano, inaugurated on 31 March 2005, is an imposing structure: 530,000 square meters of gross floorspace on a two million square meter site.
The 8 pavilions – 2 of which are two-level, and 4 higher-than-standard single-level - feature tubular skylights that contrast against the skyline. They run down the main corridor that connects the entrances to the exhibition complex: a glass and steel sail, measuring 1,300 meters in length, has become the symbol of this vast project and reaches a height of 36 meters at the Services Center.
Completed in just 30 months, and meeting all deadlines and budgets, Nuovo Polo was entirely self-funded by Fondazione Fiera Milano.