Milan, Italy

The international team to masterplan the Olympic Village for Milan Cortina 2026 has been announced.

Named “Outcomist,” the consortium includes London-based PLP Architecture and New York City’s Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Carlo Ratti Associati of Turin, Gross Max of Edinburgh, Nigel Dunnett Studio, Portland Design, Systematica srl., Studio Zoppini Associati, Aecom, LAND, and Artelia.

The winning team was announced by Porta Romana – a real estate investment fund managed by Coima SGR and subscribed by Covivio and Prada Holding. Coima, Covivio and luxury fashion brand Prada won the tender for the €180m purchase of Porta Romana in November 2020.

Outcomist beat 46 other submissions for the project and was picked from a final short list of six architectural teams.

The competition sought proposals to transform Milan’s Porta Romana railway yard – an enormous 216,779 square metre disused train depot – into a 1,000-unit Athletes’ Village along with offices, social housing, railway infrastructure and a large 100,000 square metre park connected to the wider city.

Porta Romana is a large suburban district surrounding a 16th-century city gate in the southern part of Milan.

It is one of seven underused transport facilities across the Lombardy region that have been earmarked for large-scale regeneration:

The new Parco Romana initiative proposes a new model of integration between nature and city.

The project regenerates a railway axis, on the other, the development brings together residents, 2026 Olympics athletes and visitors in a community with its own identity.

The integrated planning of the neighbourhood encourages pedestrian travel, creating a car free area for gentle mobility.

The mix of public spaces and accessible paths hosts essential services and proximity trade as integral and living parts of the project.

The public park, Parco Romana, is described as the natural heart of the development, a “lawn without architectural barriers” that naturalises the former industrial site within the surrounding urban fabric, creating a new public asset which is rich in biodiversity.

PLP Architecture leader of the consortium said:

“The park itself forms a unique topographic feature extending over the active railway that currently bisects the site, creating an accessible and multifunctional green space for the neighbourhood.”

“The Suspended Forest – a linear elevated greenway that helps to contain, rather than erase, existing railway infrastructure – includes hundreds of trees providing dedicated walking routes with unexpected views overlooking the surrounding area.”

“A biodiverse woodland and wetland Eco-zone interspersed with community gardens runs alongside the tracks at grade, offering a range of communal activities focused on health and wellbeing while dovetailing with Milan’s Rotaie Verdi environmental network.”

“An east-west connection inspires further railway mitigation interventions, including a potential Milanese highline above the track beam to ‘recreate permeability’.”

This has the ambitious goal of allowing residents and visitors to cross the entire length of the Yard, transforming the most obstructive feature of the former industrial area into a connector between public and private spaces.

Urban blocks trace the edges of the surrounding streets; their tree-lined perimeters, the ground floors with neighbourhood services and retail activities for the communities, extend into the areas to the north and south of the site.

This creates a center of attraction also for the adjacent neighborhoods; at the center of the residential architecture, courtyards that recall the Milanese tradition, create semi-public areas within which to socialize, work and relax.

After the Games, the accommodation will be converted into student housing. Shortlisted teams each received €50,000 (£43,000/$60,000) to draw up conceptual masterplans, while the winning team will receive €100,000 (£86,000/$120,000), reports insidethegames.biz.

“With the presentation of the Porta Romana masterplan, the process to regenerate the former railway yards takes a new important step forward. The winning project will offer new opportunities to the entire district and to the city, starting with more greenery and services”, said mayor of Milano Giuseppe Sala.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be organized either at the San Siro or a new stadium planned to be built in its stead in Milan.

Project: Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Village
Architects: Outcomist
Design Team: PLP Architecture, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Carlo Ratti Associati, Gross Max, Nigel Dunnett Studio, Portland Design, Systematica srl., Studio Zoppini Associati, Aecom, LAND, Artelia
Client: Porta Romana (Coima SGR, Covivio, Prada Holding)
Photographers: PLP Architecture