A home open to all, created to breathe new life into a former school whose spaces were reassigned by the municipality of Milan through a public tender and transformed into a place of sharing. This is the purpose behind Casa Emergency, the new headquarters of over three thousand square metres designed by architect Raul Pantaleo for the NGO that since 1994 has provided free, high-quality medical and surgical care to the victims of war in 17 countries around the world, to victims of landmines and poverty, and to promote a culture of peace and respect for human rights.

"A home opened at the right moment"

The inauguration and ribbon-cutting of Casa Emergency, in via Santa Croce, took place on Thursday 14 September in the presence of Gabriele Rabaiotti, councillor for Housing and Public Works, Filippo del Corno, councillor for Culture, and Pierfrancesco Majorino, councillor for Social Policies, Health and Rights of the municipality of Milan. Also present were Emergency president Rossella Miccio and founder Gino Strada.

"This home was opened at the right moment because the situation we are living in is the nightmare of a new barbarism looming on the horizon. After decades, we have gone back to talking about detention camps, about prison camps. Unfortunately, we have gone back to talking about racism, and all of this is extremely worrying," Strada declared at the inauguration.

"That is why every time places arise that are grounded in alternative principles — not discrimination and racism — I believe it is useful for us, for the city and for Italian society. This is a very difficult moment, and there is a need for different voices that place respect for everyone's human rights at the forefront. Today that is not happening — the founder continued — and indeed it is being denied by cruel, repressive, inhumane policies that need to be corrected. This is how we move towards ever more difficult, ever more tense situations, and in the end the same word always appears: 'war'. We, on the other hand, would like to help create horizons where the word peace appears."

In 23 years Emergency has treated 8 million people

Over 23 years of activity, the NGO has treated over 8 million people in 17 countries. And soon a new centre of excellence in paediatric surgery will be added on the shores of Lake Victoria, in the African state of Uganda, a few kilometres from the capital Kampala. The foundation stone was "laid" on 10 February in the village of Entebbe by architect Renzo Piano.

The new headquarters is now ready to open its doors to all citizens through three days of celebrations scheduled from 15 to 17 September. "At the new headquarters Emergency will organise a series of events and activities to involve and inform Milan's residents about the organisation's work and about the themes of human rights and the right to health," Miccio declared. This brings to a close a lengthy regeneration process which, as stated by the Milan city administration, "makes via Santa Croce 19 an exemplary story, the paradigm of how the public administration understands its building heritage and how, when necessary […] it is possible to channel it into a virtuous cycle capable of reinserting it into the life of the community."