Isola under the rain: a watered garden

We paid a lot of attention to the Salone last week, especially to the five quarters drawing the most public attention. Zona Tortona, Via Ventura, Rho Fiera (of course), Bovisa and Milan's little own special village, Isola.

As for the last one, we sent Serena Porrati (we already starred her as a photographer on our free press) and Corrado Tagliabue to shoot one of our videos, soon to be displayed on the Urban Screen in Piazza Duomo. Here's how Serena describes the quarter:

"There is a multitude of handicraft activities, small and 'trendy' independent eco-design stores mixed up with old commercial family-run businesses putting up a resistance. Slick yet cheap restaurants stand next door to Moroccan take-aways and a tabacchi bar run by South Americans. There are also a designer florist's shop and a book store gallery run by a young curator keeping an eye on new trends and sensibilities in international photography."

Check-in Architecture is interested in urban spaces turning green through community collaboration and critical gardening, so we sent Serena and Corrado to investigate and interview some of the people most aware of eco-interventions in Isola, Milan's central emerging counterculture district. Claudia Zanfi introduced them to the Green Island project she's curating and showed them creative interpretations of the local green. Stefano Massimello, one of the Stecca degli Artigiani guys, explained to them their urbanist projects, construction shenanigans and the pain-in-the-ass problems of neighborhood bureaucracy.