The Building in Corso di Porta Ticinese, Milan

The building with its five floors above ground (shops on the ground floor) is part of the street façade along Corso di Porta Ticinese, a street that had to be 'stitched together' to remedy the damages wrought by the bombing during World War II. The main theme is, once again, the relationship between pre-existing buildings and Milanese building traditions. In the magazine "Domus" Gio Ponti wrote that Magistretti tackled this problem by studying "just how far he could go to overcome the problems of an architecture in a built environment"; ultimately he solved the problem by creating a simple, modest façade. Ponti goes on to say: "the solution involved an architecture-façade; in this particular case the architect did not try to avoid the situation by inserting projecting parts, recesses or balconies (every modern architect creates an architecture-volume), but instead solved the problem by designing a clear-cut pattern of spaces, all on one plane" (Domus, 1951, p.1). He added, "the character of this building [...] brilliantly matches the colours of Milan and the building will undoubtedly 'age well' because it has already been intelligently inserted " thanks to the use of umber Terranova plaster.

A year after the worksite closed, Magistretti built a pharmacological laboratory in the courtyard of the building (1951). The lab was commissioned by Ellem, the same company which - together with the Del Ponte real estate agency - had offered him the condominium project.