Olympic Village for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics | SOM - Skidmore Owings & Merrill

For the design of the Olympic Village, an architecture competition was launched to which 27 groups made up of 71 studios of nine different nationalities were invited. The design of the Olympic Village area was entrusted to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill - SOM: the studio that had ranked second in the competition for the masterplan. The project was praised for its dialogue with and openness towards the rest of the masterplan and the neighboring parts of the city. The Olympic Village, compared to the initial proposal of the masterplan, will be built with lower and harmoniously spread buildings, integrated with amenities to create a city district for multiple generations, with pedestrian spaces and squares that are also well connected to the new spaces under development in the areas adjacent to the railway yard.

The Olympic Village - which will be developed by COIMA SGR, Covivio and Prada Holding - represents the first step in the great urban regeneration project of Scalo Porta Romana.

The design of the Olympic Village proceeds in parallel with that of the Scalo Porta Romana masterplan. The tight deadlines of the industrial development program for the redevelopment of the Porta Romana railway yard follow the timetable imposed by the planning of the Winter Olympics, which foresee the delivery of the Village in July 2025.

Positioned in the southwest quadrant of the Yard, for continuity with the existing functions in the area and to create balance across the district, the land area of 47,000 square meters will host the athletes' village of the 2026 Winter Olympics which, at the end of the competition, will be converted by COIMA SGR into student housing equipped with all the necessary services for students, in addition to amenities for the public as requested by the Milano Cortina Foundation.

Thanks to the public/private collaboration between the proponents and the Milano-Cortina Foundation, with the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region, the Olympic Village will be developed by combining the needs of use during and after the competition, creating a village with zero environmental impact according to the NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) requirements. The urban regeneration project of the village, and of the railway yard, adopts an "outcome investing" approach, with the aim of being able to contribute to a positive social impact in the community.

The project was studied right from the start in its post-Olympics configuration, allowing the physical spaces and services designed for athletes to flow into the future district, minimizing reconversion works and environmental impacts. The materials used for the Olympic Village will be chosen for their sustainability characteristics (recyclability, reuse, environmental friendliness). All buildings will be LEED® certified, the building structures will be permanent and the temporary ones will be reusable.

More than 30% of the energy will be produced thanks to the installation of solar thermal and photovoltaic systems; rainwater will be collected and reused, with a reduction in the use of drinking water by over 50% and a CO2 reduction of 40% for heating and cooling.

The Olympic Village’s urban structure, designed with its ultimate transformation in mind, is organized into three functional sectors.

1. The residential area and some communal facilities will eventually become student accommodation and follow criteria of simplicity of adaptation between the Olympic phase and their ultimate use. The design reflects the small industrial and artisan complexes typical of this part of the city, articulated in different buildings. The ground floor retains a predominantly public role, providing access to day-to-day services, first for the athletes and then for the students and citizens.

2. The central part of the facility is intended for the services and amenities of the Olympic phase (reception services, catering, transport hub, etc.), which will subsequently be converted into community amenities. The existing industrial buildings will also be preserved and integrated as part of this area, reflecting the location’s past while creating an attractive urban environment for meeting, exchanging and creating communities.

3. The last sector is the one that both in the Olympic phase and in its final form has the most public role: the Olympic square. This space can be permanently configured immediately, with access routes to the park and will be the only area of the Olympic Village open to the public during the event to then be able to host an exhibition space. The pedestrian paths make up a structural part of the system, along with planting and outdoor public spaces.

The Village after the Olympics

With the goal of converting from an Olympic function to a student residence function in just four months, the Olympic Village will be transformed into a sustainable urban experimentation laboratory focused on people, community, integration and resilience; it will be a vibrant ecosystem of student housing, residences, co-working, community amenities and public spaces; it will be a place of exchange and debate in the city: it will attract young people, entrepreneurs and micro-companies, who will be able to socialize, experiment and share.

The area will be managed through a digital platform capable of monitoring the performance of buildings and involving the community, with the provision of the digital twin.

Greenhouses and vegetable gardens are planned for the production of food within the area, allowing the creation of the first village for students with zero-kilometer products. The athletes' homes will be reused for their new student housing destination (about 1,000 beds) and can also be used by others outside the academic period; the park and railway side buildings in the area of the Olympic square will be used for affordable housing; the Olympic Village Plaza will be the new square of the neighborhood, which will overlook the shops and establishments planned at street level; this will also be where farmers' markets and events can take place.

The center will be developed with consideration of the surrounding fabric: the permeability between open and public spaces will allow the creation of a community that will be able to take advantage of the new areas integrated into the existing ones; the mixed-use nature and ancillary services will bring the neighborhood to life; recreational and cultural programs – as well as collaborations with local associations and companies – will enable the activation of communities and the creation of a new centrality for Milan, also in public-private partnership.

The area of the Porta Romana railway yard is part of the railway stations program agreement signed by Ferrovie dello Stato, the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region, and in relation to the Olympic Village to be built for the Milano-Cortina Foundation and the International Olympic Committee, in implementation of a national law specifically prepared to speed up urban planning procedures. COIMA SGR, Covivio and Prada Holding were awarded, through participation in the tender launched by the FS Italiane Group in January 2020, the Porta Romana railway yard (an area that covers an area of approximately 190,000 square meters, in addition to the residual portion of 26,000 square meters of railways) for 180 million euros.