The mission was to design the intervention on and transformation of an early 20th -century industrial site south of Milan to create new experimental spaces for the Prada Art Foundation.

The total exhibition space of 17,500 m2 will comprise 7,500 m2 of an existing industrial complex and approximately 10,000 m2 of new buildings. The complex will house the Foundation’s different events, which will be dedicated to disciplines ranging from cinema to design, architecture to philosophy, and fashion to performance. It will further include a permanent exhibition space for displaying the result of more than 15 years of the Foundation’s activities in the form of large-scale installations.

The Prada Foundation’s new art centre and permanent exhibition space is situated in a location that includes buildings dating from 1910 belonging to one of Milan’s first manufacturing companies. Preserved in their original conditions, there are seven different existing structures of warehouses, laboratories and brewing silos surrounded by a large courtyard.

An exhibition building, an auditorium and a museum tower was added to the existing structure to house selections of works from the collection. The project’s unique approach includes the idea of the co-existence of contemporary architecture with the regeneration of an historic area, representing the evolution of the industrial development of Milan that continues to the present day.

Collaboration work with OMA team,                      Image courtesy of OMA