The Sunken City · CityWave Milan

The Sunken City

Beneath CityWave’s catenary canopy, The Sunken City proposes a public room set approximately 2.5 metres below the surrounding city. The descent provides shelter from traffic and turns BIG’s roof into an urban boundary experienced from underneath.

The paving and retaining walls reuse Lombard stone recovered from demolition. Inventory numbers, traces of paint, worn corners, and localised moss preserve the material’s previous life. Warm offices, grey autumn light, and pedestrians crossing the plaza create tension between a new district and the marks of the existing city.

The series avoids repeating the corporate icon through conventional views. It combines urban scale, pedestrian experience, everyday use, and construction details that explain how public space is made. It is conceived for workplace competitions, mixed-use developments, and projects in which architecture, landscape, and urban identity must read as one story.

Reference context: CityWave in Milan, designed by BIG. The conceptual intervention is an independent proposal by NoName Architecture; JVA Renders developed the art direction and architectural visualization.

Architectural context and authorship

CityWave, by BIG — Bjarke Ingels Group, originated in an international competition to complete CityLife in Milan. The Sunken City is not an entry to that competition: it imagines a sunken plaza beneath the roof, where reclaimed stone, shade and paths create a pedestrian-scale experience. Context source: BIG.

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Independent, uncommissioned conceptual study. It is not part of the official CityWave Milan project and does not imply a professional relationship with its architects, developers, or institutions.