Projects

Cumulative 3D Visibility Analysis Porta Romana

Year 2022

Location Milan, Italy

Client

Industry Urban and Development Master Planning

Expertise Spatial Analysis and Wayfinding

Systematica_Cumulative 3D Visibility Analysis Porta Romana

The regeneration of Milan’s former Porta Romana railway yard is a key urban transformation project aimed at reconnecting fragmented districts and revitalising a large disused area through a sustainable, multifunctional masterplan. Promoted by COIMA SGR, Covivio, and Fondazione Prada, the project re-establishes continuity between Corso Lodi and Via Ripamonti with a mix of housing, offices, student accommodation, social housing, and integrated public services.

Systematica, in collaboration with Iacopo Neri, has decided to experiment with a quantitative analysis based on three-dimensional isovist models and spatial visualization. Click here to access it.

This method allows for the mapping and quantification of areas with higher or lower visual exposure, identifying potential focal points, key pedestrian routes, and more isolated spaces. Understanding the distribution of visibility is crucial for evaluating the user experience, the perception of safety across different seasons, and the potential for social activation of spaces, key elements for the success of an urban regeneration project of this scale.

      Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) is a procedure of Space Syntax for quantifying visual properties of the built environment, mapping the floor plan into a grid - colored by its degree of visibility. It is assumed that by analysing the visual properties of the space, consequent emerging features can be extracted such as: movement patterns, hierarchy of space, or its degree of accessibility.

Neverthless, by focusing only on the ground floor, the analyis erases the impact that the third dimension produces in the reconstruction of our mental map of the space. By introducing the volumetries of the urban space, the Cumulative 3D Visibility Analysis aims at expanding the current knowledge over spatial behavioural patterns emerging from visual properties.

      Simulation modes vary by goal: All to All: Measures mutual visibility; Observer/Observed: From a single point to surroundings, and Weighted: Adds distance-based clarity (e.g. legibility).
    

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Porta Romana
Observer/Observed – 100m Lodi to Prada

      By focusing on the facades of the North- East sector, it is possible to appreciate the dynamism in visibility pattern between different seasons and point of view.    