The new Milan venue of the Fondazione Prada, seven years in the making and designed by OMA, opened to the press and on May 9 to the public. The project, led by Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn and Federico Pompignoli, is a milestone in OMA’s long-term collaboration with Prada, delivering a 19,000 m2 campus dedicated to art.
Commissioned by Fondazione Prada, the project embraces a coexistence of new architecture with the regeneration of an Former distillery at Largo Isarco No2, Milan, an industrial complex dating from 1910, comprising seven existing structures, including warehouse, laboratories, and brewing silos surrounded by a large courtyard and three new structures including a museum for temporary exhibitions, a transformable cinema building and a 10-storey high gallery tower.
Rem Koolhaas: “The Fondazione is not a preservation project and not a new architecture. Two conditions that are usually kept separate here confront each other in a state of permanent interaction – offering an ensemble of fragments that will not congeal into a single image, or allow any part to dominate the others.”
Located in Largo Isarco, south of the city center, the complex aims to expand the repertoire of spatial typologies in which art can be exhibited and shared with the public. The project consists of seven existing buildings, and three new structures: Museum, a space for temporary exhibitions; Cinema, a multimedia auditorium; and Torre, a ten-story permanent exhibition space for displaying the foundation’s collection and activities.
Torre, currently undergoing construction work, will be open to the public at a later date. To coincide with the opening of the new venue, OMA has designed two exhibitions for Fondazione Prada: Serial Classic (Milan, May 9-August 24) and Portable Classic (Venice, May 9-September 13).
Curated by Salvatore Settis, Serial Classic will occupy the Podium while Portable Classic will be held at the Fondazione Prada’s Venice location, Ca’ Corner. Together, the exhibitions feature Greek and Roman statuary at all scales and examine issues of reproduction and display, aiming to rethink classical notions of the socle and, since the Renaissance and later, the vitrine. Source by OMA.
Location: Milan, Italy
Architects: OMA
Partner in Charge: Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn
Project leader: Federico Pompignoli
Preliminary Design: Sam Aitkenhead, Doug Allard, Andrea Bertassi, Aleksandr Bierig, Eva Dietrich, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Jonah Gamblin, Takuya Hosokai, Stephen Hodgson, Jan Kroman, Jedidiah Lau, Francesco Marullo, Vincent McIlduff, Alexander Menke, Aoibheann Ni Mhearain, Sophie van Noten, Jan Pawlik, Rocio Paz Chavez, Christopher Parlato, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Dirk Peters, Andrea Sollazzo, Michaela Tonus, Jussi Vuori, Luca Vigliero, Mei-Lun Xue
Definitive Project: Anna Dzierzon, Jonah Gamblin, Ross Harrison, Hans Hammink, Matthew Jull, Taiga Koponen, Vincent Konate, Andres Mendoza, Susanan Mondejar, Vincent McIlduff, Sasha Smolin, Michaela Tonus.
Construction documentation: Katarina Barunica, Marco Cimenti, Cecilia Del Pozo Rios, Anita Ernodi, Felix Fassbinder, Peter Feldmann, Siliang Fu, Romina Grillo, Jonah Gamblin, Clive Hennessey, Taiga Koponen, Roy Lin, Debora Mateo, Vincent Mc Ilduff, Andres Mendoza, Arminas Sadzevicius, Magdalena Stanescu, Lingxiao Zhang
Construction Administration: Mateo Budel, Marco Cimenti, Andrea Giovenzana, Nicolas Lee, Victor Pricop, Pawel Panfiluk
Local Architects: Alvisi Kirimoto & Partners, Atelier Verticale
Structural Engineer: Favero&Milan
MEP Engineer: Favero & Milan, Prisma Engineering
Cost Consultant: GAD
Acoustic Engineer: Level Acoustics
Scenography: Ducks Sceno
Fire Engineer: GAE Engineering
Client: Fondazione Prada
Public area: 12300 m2
Private area: 6600 m2
Total built area: 18900 m2
Year: 2015
Photographs: Bas Princen (Courtesy of Fondazione Prada),
Charlie Koolhaas (Courtesy of OMA)
Images: Courtesy OMA
