COIMA SGR and its partners Covivio and Prada Holding recently announced that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will lead the design of the Olympic Village for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics as part of the updated Porta Romana rail yard master plan. SOM was selected for the 2026 Winter Olympics project following an international competition involving 27 groups consisting of 71 design studios from nine nations.

Developed by COIMA SGR and its partners in collaboration with the Milano-Cortina Foundation, the Municipality of Milan and the Lombardy Region, the Olympic Village is scheduled to be completed by July, 2025, in advance of the games set for the following Feb. 6 to 22.

Plans call for green spaces open to the public, the rehabilitation of two historic structures and six new residential buildings that will be reused for student housing after the games. The park and historic railway side buildings will be used for affordable housing and the plaza will become a neighborhood square with retail and restaurants.

The Olympic Village is designed for sustainability, including “nearly” zero annual energy use, according to the developer. Passive cooling strategies and solar panels are expected to produce more than 30% of the energy used. Other green features include stormwater collection and reuse, which is designed to reduce the use of potable water by over 50%.