The concept for the masterplan is rooted in two different but complementary approaches to the city.

First, there is the idea of the ‘Cluster City’, which proposes a city based on the presence of different patterns and textures, as an alternative to the conception of public space as a neutral and non-hierarchic background envisioned by modernism. The result is a structured succession of open areas and public spaces, with ample mutual relations but also with a level of discontinuity that provides intimacy. This approach is capable of creating a complex, but consistent and continuous system of urban spaces with specific identities

A second reference is the ‘Plan Voisin’, an early 20^th century conceptualization of a city based on high density. Density now has re-acquired a social, urban and environmental value: it consumes less territory and uses the available resources better; it creates visual and symbolic acceleration points; it allows for the appearance of landmarks; it strengthens the possibility of creating specific urban environments.

The masterplan further proposes two types of building volumes, each engaged in an  particular exchange with a different surrounding system of public space. At first there is the horizontal base; a one storey high plinth that is conceived as an artificial landscape. This ‘physical landscape’ absorbs the complexity and variety of the texture of the surrounding city, while facilitating public and semi-public functions and pedestrian circulation that effectively shape the landscape. Second, there is a point-like system of suspended building volumes of 8 to 10 floors, which are each slightly different, but conceived with a strong regularity between them, as to create a single spatial ensemble within a fragmented urban environment. Together, the horizontal landscape and the vertical building volumes create a specific environment that is highly receptive of its urban context, while clearly proposing an alternative and a distinct identity.