Dezeen Magazine

Prada Foundation by AMO

AMO, the research arm of Office for Metropolitan Architecture, recently unveiled their design for new experimental and exhibition spaces for the Prada Art Foundation near Milan.


new-tower.jpg

The development will involve transforming an early 20th-century industrial site south of Milan and adding an exhibition building, auditorium and museum tower to the existing seven structures.

2axon_elements_bestdesat.jpg
The complex will accommodate events dedicated to cinema, design, architecture, philosophy, fashion and performance, as well as housing selections of works from the Prada Foundation collection. Above image © AMO*OMA “We plan to add three new structures that vastly extend the range of its facilities and accommodations” says Rem Koolhaas of OMA. “The new Foundation is intended as a collection of artifacts that encounters several architectural typologies. Above image © AMO*OMAThe complex will accommodate events dedicated to cinema, design, architecture, philosophy, fashion and performance, as well as housing selections of works from the Prada Foundation collection. Above image © AMO*OMA
080406_consolidated-prolif.jpg
“We plan to add three new structures that vastly extend the range of its facilities and accommodations” says Rem Koolhaas of OMA. “The new Foundation is intended as a collection of artifacts that encounters several architectural typologies. Above image © AMO*OMA
080404_light_track.jpg

"Not only will the range of spatial conditions be extended, but also the range of contents itself: apart from spaces for assembly and performance, both Prada’s and Luna Rossa’s archives will be opened, establishing a continuity of creative and intellectual effort

080404_crane_exhibition.jpg

Above image © AMO*OMA

Photographs by Roberto Marossi, courtesy of Fondazione Prada unless otherwise credited.
Here's some text from the Prada Foundation:
--
Unveiling the Prada Foundation
AMO, the think-tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) was commissioned by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli 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.

89_parthesius-2540.jpg

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.

haunted-house_bourgeois2.jpg

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.

hirst1.jpg

AMO’s project adds an exhibition building, an auditorium and a museum tower 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.

kapoor23sized.jpg

The project is lead by Rem Koolhaas with Alexander Reichert and is the latest in a series of OMA-AMO Prada collaborations that have resulted in the epicenter stores, catwalks for fashion shows, exhibitions and T-Shirt designs.

koons-v2.jpg

Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli founded the Prada Foundation in 1993, with the artistic direction of Germano Celante beginning in 1995. The Foundation is a non-profit organization, generated by passion for contemporary art.

parthesius-2268-2.jpg

Since its inception, the Foundation has commissioned and produced special installations in close collaboration with artists such as among others Anish Kapoor, Marc Quinn, Carsten Höller, and Thomas Demand.

rendered-section_haunted-ho.jpg
parthesius-2505.jpg

Above photograph by Frans Parthesius, © OMA

xcan_6306.jpg
xcan_6416.jpg
2w8x0403.jpg
tutned2w8x0400.jpg
2w8x0395.jpg
2w8x0350.jpg
2w8x0357.jpg
2w8x0163.jpg
img_0288_zw_courtesy-fondaz.jpg
2w8x0284.jpg
2w8x0331.jpg
2w8x0087.jpg
2w8x0039.jpg
2w8x0038.jpg