Several buildings, one complex
Monte Amiata Housing, in Milan’s Gallaratese district, was designed by Carlo Aymonino and Aldo Rossi in the late 1960s. The complex combines five buildings around shared open areas, including an outdoor theatre and smaller plazas. Rossi designed one of the housing blocks within the larger project.
Circulation as an urban question
Passages, decks, terraces and bridges connect the buildings and create multiple pedestrian routes. Aymonino and Rossi treated the project as a small city within the city. They cited Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille as a point of reference while seeking to develop a different arrangement.
What to examine
Read the site plan before isolating Rossi’s block in a photograph. Trace the route from a street to a dwelling and identify where movement becomes shared space. Then compare the individual buildings. This preserves both scales of authorship: a distinct architectural contribution and a collaboratively designed urban ensemble. It also turns the claim of a miniature city into a spatial question that can be examined.