Client: Municiplaity of Mulazzano
Architect: Ghisellini Architetti
Designers: Mats Aldén, Thomas Bernstrand
In Mulazzano, a fairly small town nestled between Lodi and Milan in northern Italy, a forgotten stretch of land has been transformed into a new green lung. With the Green Kilometer project, Ghisellini Architetti has created a park that not only fills an urban void but has also become a vibrant social hub for all generations. “We wanted to turn a place that essentially didn’t exist into a new center point, to create a surprising landscape from nothing while respecting the traces of history that remained,” says Tomas Ghisellini, founder of Ghisellini Architetti.
The Korg furniture group and the Four Seasons parasol create shaded spaces for social interaction in the park.
“We wanted it to breathe, always accessible, without physical or temporal boundaries.”
Tomas Ghisellini, founder of Ghisellini Architetti
The goal was to attract people and, through their presence, ensure the most powerful form of stewardship and safety: informal oversight by the community itself. To achieve this, the project drew on interdisciplinary collaborations with sociologists, agronomists, and ergonomists, as well as local artisans and material specialists. The result is a park that is both highly functional and rich in aesthetic value.
Rather than building another playground, the architects envisioned an open park for everyone, from teenagers to seniors. “One of the winning choices was not to enclose the area with fences. We wanted it to breathe, always accessible, without physical or temporal boundaries.” The dense greenery, a stark contrast to the municipality’s otherwise more barren and impermeable character, has become the park’s hallmark and a much-needed refuge for residents.
For the furnishing, Nola was the natural choice. “We selected Nola’s products for their uncommon lightness, elegance, and the softness of their formal language. For us, it was essential that the furniture dedicated to social interaction carried an almost domestic character—welcoming, playful, and friendly.” The result includes lounge areas with benches, armchairs, parasols, and sunbeds that have quickly become some of the park’s most popular features. “They are so in demand that queues often form to use them,” Ghisellini notes.
The opening of the park was met with great enthusiasm, drawing not only the local community but also visitors from nearby cities. For the architects, the project’s greatest contribution lies in establishing a new kind of social square, a place where people can feel at home, strengthen bonds, and discover new ways of living together. “The liberation of the body becomes a path toward human relationships. The park is rapidly becoming a place where new memories are built and a new collective awareness emerges,” concludes Tomas Ghisellini.
“For us, it was essential that the furniture dedicated to social interaction carried an almost domestic character—welcoming, playful, and friendly.”
Tomas Ghisellini, founder of Ghisellini Architetti
The High Sun Chair provides a comfortable place to rest with a view of the park’s historic walls.
Products in project