AssetID: 55177884
Headline: Revealed: Inside Milan's 2026 Olympic Village
Caption: These images and videos provide a sneak peek into Milan’s Olympic athletes’ village, which will host the winter games next year. Designed by global architecture studio Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it is a major sustainable development that will be transformed into student housing after the games. Completed in just 30 months – and finished 30 days ahead of schedule – the complex in the Porta Romana district features six new mass-timber residential buildings alongside two restored historic structures. The development, overseen by Italian developer COIMA, also includes 40,000 square metres of landscaped green areas, community facilities and sports courts. Once the Winter Games conclude, the site will become Italy’s largest affordable student housing development, providing 1,700 beds in time for the 2026–27 academic year. Located on a former railyard, the village draws on the area’s industrial heritage and the wider streetscape of Milan. SOM described the design as a “porous urban block”, integrating public pathways and shared terraces that create open, connected spaces. The studio retained and adapted two historic buildings on the site – the Squadra Rialzo locomotive workshop and the Basilico building – preserving their original masonry, timber and iron structures while introducing new timber roofs, modern systems and space for restaurants, community hubs and cultural organisations. The village employs a range of sustainable strategies, including passive cooling systems, rooftop gardens and solar panels. The new buildings use mass timber construction and low-carbon façade materials to reduce environmental impact. Following in the footsteps of recent Olympic villages in Paris, Milan’s Athletes’ Village reflects a growing global emphasis on creating lasting, community-focused legacies from major sporting events.
Keywords: feature,video,milan,olympics,sport,village,photo
PersonInImage: Milan's Olympic Village.