Courtyard building in Milan
Ventilated roof
| Type | Residential building – condominium |
| Intervention | Roof renovation |
| Location | Milan, Italy |
| Roof insulation | Isotec XL by Brianza Plastica – 120 mm and 160 mm thick |
| Insulated roof surface | 800 sqm |
| Roof cladding | Traditional pantiles |
The project
This large late 19th-century residential building, consisting of a ground floor, four upper floors and a fifth floor converted from the attic, features a typical courtyard layout. The property underwent extensive renovation, during which the entire building was vacated. The load-bearing walls and façades, protected by the Superintendency, were preserved. The renovation project aimed to maintain the building’s exterior in line with the traditional aesthetics of the façade and tiled roof.
The intervention
The roof was completely dismantled and rebuilt, creating a new wooden and concrete roof structure. As the extrados height of the roof was constrained by the existing building volume, the design team opted for ventilated polyurethane thermal insulation in order to limit overall thickness while maintaining high thermal performance. The wooden roof structure was constructed with 25 mm double boarding to improve phase-shift performance. An Elytex-N vapour barrier membrane was then applied, followed by the fully dry installation of the Isotec XL ventilated thermal insulation system. Panels were installed with a thickness of 120 mm on the roof section facing Corso Lodi and 160 mm on the two adjacent side wings. Once the panels were in place and the ventilated ridge had been created, new channel pantiles were laid on the metal stiffeners integrated into the Isotec panels. These were then covered with carefully selected reclaimed pantiles.
The result
The renovation project focused on a well-defined architectural approach, aimed on the one hand at preserving consistency with the traditional aesthetics of the façade and tiled roof, and on the other hand at introducing distinctly contemporary solutions for the interior spaces. The adoption of the Isotec System enabled significant improvements in the roof’s energy performance and the recovery and reuse of the original pantiles, in line with the client’s requirements.
