Mapei: from Olympic Village to student accommodation

The Milan Olympic Village rises in the Scalo Romana district as a landmark urban regeneration project. Built in record time, it hosts athletes during the Milano Cortina 2026 Games and will later be converted into a modern student residence. A benchmark for sustainable design, construction innovation and social well-being.

Launched in Milan’s Scalo Romana district in 2021 and completed in just under three years, the Olympic Village project is part of a wider urban regeneration plan for the former Porta Romana railway yard. Once a historic rail hub, the area is being transformed into a new neighbourhood designed to accommodate 1,700 students, 2,000 residents in private, subsidised and public housing, 6,000 workers and over 20 spaces for shops, business and service units.
The project brought together internationally renowned designers: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as lead architects, supported by Coima Image for interior design and Michel Desvigne for the landscaped public and equipped green spaces, all coordinated within Outcomist’s overall masterplan. The aim is to create a location that is open for use by the entire community and fits in harmoniously with the other structures in the Scalo Romana neighbourhood and the city as a whole. The redevelopment project was the result of collaboration between investors and institutions, including the Lombardy regional government, the Milan City Council, Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 (the Organising Committee responsible for planning, managing, and delivering the XXV Olympic Winter Games and the XIV Paralympic Winter Games), the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Sport, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of University and Research and the Italian State Railways Group.

A major urban regeneration project
During the Games, the Olympic Village is hosting up to 1,700 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. From the outset, the priority has been to ensure that spaces, services and fit-outs originally designed for athletes can be seamlessly integrated into the future neighbourhood, minimising conversion work and the associated environmental impact. In particular, the approximately 10,000 m² area allocated to services for athletes, including a gym, co-working areas, catering facilities and medical and health facilities, will be later repurposed as private amenities for the local community or general public.
The six new residential buildings provide ensuite rooms and communal spaces. The two existing historic buildings – the former Squadra Rialzo (once a locomotive maintenance workshop) and the Basilico building –are now intended primarily for catering for athletes, later becoming areas dedicated to services for the new students., helping to meet the need for student accommodation in Milan.
The plan also includes the creation of 40,000 m² of public spaces and green areas, including three basketball and padel courts, plazas with street-level services and amenities, and outdoor areas for hosting community events and gatherings. The presence of flexible spaces at street level will allow the public amenities to evolve in line with the needs of the future student residence.

Integrated sustainability
The Olympic Village is a model of integrated sustainability. The LEED Gold-certified buildings achieve zero operational emissions thanks to high energy efficiency solutions, heat pumps, electricity generation via an approximately 1 MW photovoltaic system and rainwater harvesting and reuse. The complex has also achieved WiredScore Platinum certification recognising best-in-class digital connectivity. Sustainable mobility is supported by cycle paths, bicycle parking facilities and electric vehicle charging points. The project also promotes social wellbeing through accessible public spaces and a strong commitment to community building.
With these characteristics, Scalo Romana is a pilot project for carbon neutrality in line with the Milan City Council’s Air and Climate Plan. It is fully compliant with European Union taxonomy requirements, as well as with the requirements of LEED and WELL for Community certification.

A record-breaking construction site
Delivered in June 2025, one month ahead of the contractual schedule and after only 30 months of construction (January 2023 to June 2025), the Olympic Village facilities were the result of an entirely Italian production chain. The innovation and performance delivered by the companies involved helped streamline construction through advanced precast and serial production methods, with an average workforce of around 200 people on site each day. Mapei also contributed through the input of Mapei Technical Services, which recommended high-quality, sustainable product systems capable of meeting the strict deadlines across the various project phases.

Quality and technology for the installation of resilient flooring
Liuni, the contractor commissioned to install resilient flooring in various areas of the Olympic Village, collaborated with Mapei on this high-profile project. Tommaso Sala, Technical Director at Liuni SpA, states: “The collaboration with Mapei was decisive for the successful installation of resilient flooring in the Olympic Village. Their technical support and the use of high-quality products such as Nivorapid, Ultraplan Contract and Ultrabond Eco 530 were fundamental in meeting the tight contractual deadlines and ensuring excellence in the execution of such a prestigious project. A winning synergy at the service of urban regeneration.”
To achieve optimal flatness, the floor surfaces in the bedrooms, corridors and communal areas were initially prepared with Nivorapid mixed with Latex Plus latex admixture in place of water, producing an ultra-rapid cementitious patching and smoothing compound with enhanced deformability and adhesion.
This was followed by application of Eco Prim T Plus universal acrylic primer, a water-based, solvent-free product with very low VOC emissions, ideal for improving the adhesion of levelling compounds on absorbent and non-absorbent substrates.
Afterwords, the substrates were levelled with Ultraplan Contract, a self-levelling smoothing compound for interior use. Ideal for large construction sites, it is designed to level and eliminate thickness variations of 1 to 10 mm on new or existing substrates prior to the application of any type of flooring.
The next step was to install linoleum flooring with acoustic backing in the corridors and natural jute backing in the rooms of the Village, using Ultrabond Eco 530 quick-setting adhesive, characterised by fast and strong wet grab.
In the gyms, PVC sheet floorings were installed using Ultrabond Eco V4SP high-performance universal adhesive in water dispersion.

The right mix design for precast concrete staircases
Mapei’s Technical Services team assisted the contractor responsible for casting the precast concrete stairs on site by helping finetuning the appropriate mix design.
To ensure high performance, Dynamon NRG 1030 and Dynamon SP1 superplasticizers, which were especially developed for the precast concrete industry, were added to the concrete mix. Thanks to its physical and chemical characteristics, Dynamon NRG 1030 improves the performance characteristics of concrete during the casting phase and improves its mechanical strength and setting properties during the hardening stage. On the other hand, Dynamon SP1 is particularly suitable for precast applications and whenever there is a need for a significant reduction in water content, along with a relatively high acceleration of mechanical strengths at an early age in different consistency classes and at curing temperatures above +15°C or with accelerated steam curing treatment. These two superplasticizers were used selectively in the colder and warmer months to ensure optimal performance in all climatic conditions.
The iron formworks were treated with Mapeform Eco Oil 23, a form-release agent. Mapeform Eco Oil 23 is based on stable vegetable oils and corrosion inhibitors that increase service life of formworks and reduce the presence of rust stains on the casted material. It creates a thin layer that facilitates concrete demolding from the formwork.
The Olympic Village project will leave a lasting legacy of community spaces and services within a developing neighbourhood.

February 2026 – www.mapei.it