"When athletes arrive in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, they'll find themselves living on top of what was once a bustling 19th-century rail yard. The newly revealed athletes village is located in the city's historic Scalo di Porta Romana district-and when the Games are over, it'll be converted into Italy's largest-ever affordable student housing development. The Olympic Village design was led by the global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)."
"Photos of Milan's Scalo di Porta Romana district from the early-20th century paint a picture of an ultra-industrial zone populated by factories, smokestacks, and railway cars. Today Milan's administrative body, the Comune di Milano, is in the midst of a multiyear project to convert the district into a sprawling neighborhood complete with green space and commercial and residential zones. Part of that plan includes first transforming the former rail yard into a global destination for the Olympics and, later, a student housing development."
Milan will host an athletes village atop the historic Scalo di Porta Romana rail yard for the 2026 Winter Olympics, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The complex includes six mass-timber residential buildings, two renovated train repair sheds repurposed as communal spaces, and 40,000 square meters of green space. After the Games, the village will convert into 1,700 student apartments in time for the 2026–2027 school year, representing Italy's largest-ever affordable student housing project. The Comune di Milano plans broader district redevelopment, and the effort continues a trend of repurposing Olympic housing with mixed outcomes.
Read at Fast Company
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