The modernization of Milan's famous Torre Arcobaleno (Rainbow Tower) at Porto Garibaldi has been completed. It was presented recently under the patronage of the Milan City Council and in association with the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and Gruppo FS Italiane railway authorities.
Dating back to 1964, this monument was once upon a time an anonymous water reservoir on the site of the FS Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station. The tower was first renovated ahead of the World Cup in 1990, a project that turned a downtrodden public works piece into a highly recognizable urban beacon.
Since then, the Torre Arcobaleno has been a symbol of Milan’s color and creativity, and has gradually become known as a major landmark.
A number of top companies came together with those handling the first refurbishment since 1990 to enable this unusual urban structure – clad with more than 100,000 coloured ceramic tiles - to regain all its original brightness of approximately 25 years ago.
The partner firms in the Torre Arcobaleno renovation project, carried out with the supervisory approval of the City of Milan Public Works and Urban Furnishing Department as the guests of the Italian State Railways, were Bazzea – B Construction Technology, Condor, Fila Solutions, Mapei, and Marazzi.
Both renovations were executed by Milan-based architects Original Designers 6R5 Network, and the Torre forms part of their Wonderline project, which celebrates color in architecture. The colors chosen for the Torre are meant to represent the desire to inhabit our planet intelligently, creating a harmony between technology, nature, innovation and tradition.
The Garibaldi zone of the nearby Piazza Gae Aulenti is the center of the city’s business, fashion and modern architecture scenes. The zone, now restyled by futuristic skyscrapers, has adopted the Torre Arcobaleno as its “Colourful Ceramic Totem,” there to remind people of Italy’s master potters and industries' tcraft origins of an industry famous all over the world for its Italian Excellence.
