From Storage to City. ARW at Politecnico di Milano

On Thursday, April 2, 2026, our studio, ARW Associates, was invited to deliver a lecture at the Politecnico di Milano (Aula III C), as part of the Architecture Design and Construction Studio within the Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urban Design, coordinated by Elisa Maruelli (Polimi) and Klaus Steffan (TU Berlin).

The lecture, titled From Storage to City. Architecture Beyond Infrastructure, interprets technical infrastructures as architecture and urban space, starting from the Corporate Data Hub project developed by the studio.

The talk reflects on the contemporary role of storage spaces—both physical and digital—highlighting how highly technical, energy-intensive, and traditionally introverted programs can become active elements in shaping public space and the urban landscape.

Building on a theoretical reading of the archive as an evolving system—no longer merely a repository but a relational infrastructure—ARW presents its design approach, grounded in a research-based and site-specific practice that understands architecture as a tool for cultural and territorial transformation.

The Corporate Data Hub is discussed as an emblematic case study: a digital infrastructure reimagined as architecture capable of establishing relationships with its context, generating public space, and contributing to the definition of new hybrid typologies between production, work, and the city.

The lecture is delivered by Matteo Facchinelli (founding partner), Stefano Gatti (project leader), and Stefano Andreatta (communication manager & curatorial project), and concludes with a discussion with the students, who are invited to reflect on their semester project, focused on the design of a hybrid building between a library and a data center within the context of the New York Climate Exchange.