Miuccia’s museum: Milan welcomes Fondazione Prada

Prada Foundation's new Milan arts complex

(Image credit: Bas Princen)

published 30 April 2015

Milan is having an uncharacteristically hip moment. Despite messy logistics and half-baked construction, The Expo has revitalised the city’s spiritual shroud, while iconic public figures such as Giorgio Armani have helped buoy the wave of attention with a new fashion museum and a recent Hollywood-studded 40th anniversary event. But no one has done more to shine a truly long-term, international and bright lens on this city than Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli who will open the doors to their long-awaited Fondazione Prada on 9 May.

In the works for more than a decade, the Fondazione opens with 'Serial Classic', an exhibit curated by Salvatore Settis, and lives up to every bit of hype that has swirled around it. The project is massively ambitious – 10 different buildings packed with a dazzling selection of contemporary and modern art sprawl like a labyrinth across 19,000 sq meters — and is just as satisfying.

‘People keep asking me if this is an art gallery, a public museum or a private foundation,’ Bertelli told us in a private preview of the substantial compound. ‘In truth, we wanted to make a space that was an aggregate of all three. It is very homogeneous and at the same time very heterogeneous.’

Visually, the Fondazione Prada is an intriguing hodge-podge of different buildings, styles, spatial sizes, creative themes and time periods. Shiny mirrored surfaces battle against raw concrete interiors; tiny, intimate rooms contrast with vacuous warehouse-sized hangars. Without a typical plan, the discovery process unfolds without a pre-ordained path, though a stop in the Wes Anderson-designed cafe, wrapped in tromp l’oeil wallpaper recreating Milan’s famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, would be an excellent place to start.

A former distillery, the location features a disparate mix of seven structures that date back to 1910, plus three new ones (one of which, called Torre, is still under construction) all set within a tall-walled, art-filled campus. Hundreds of pieces of art have been sourced from both Fondazione Prada’s private collection as well as non-permanent exhibits and site specific installations.

‘It was our intention to make old and new work seamlessly here,’ observed longtime Prada collaborator Rem Koolhaas, whose OMA architectural firm was charged with designing the compound. ‘At any moment, you can’t really tell if you’re in an old building or a new one.’

Set in the southern section of the city across from bleak railroad tracks, Fondazione Prada’s neighbourhood is in a decidedly un-cool part of town. ‘What’s fabulous about this area is its industrial quality,’ Koolhaas stressed. ‘We absolutely do not want to create any gentrification here - this was crucial for all of us.’

The classic Milanese might not be pounding on the surrounding real estate, but the space itself — which unfolds like a creative village with charming public spaces and open-air courtyards — is sure to become a lure, not just for the city’s resident design class, but for top art and architecture scene-makers around the world. And let’s be honest: this (much more than a six-month, mass, eat-fest) is exactly what the city of Milan needs most.

The project is massively ambitious – 10 different buildings packed with a dazzling selection of contemporary and modern art sprawl like a labyrinth across 19,000 sq meters. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

The fashion brand has been staging art exhibitions in a variety of spaces

For more than 20 years the fashion brand has been staging art exhibitions in a variety of spaces, but now they will all be housed in this redesigned industrial neighbourhood of Milan Courtesy Fondazione Prada

(Image credit: Bas Princen)

A image of candy and beverage shop — No museum or gallery is complete without a decent food and beverage option, and the Fondazione’s Wes Anderson-designed bar truly breaks the mould.

The colour colour palette of the Formica furniture and veneered wooden panelling alludes to the Milanese cafes — The ceiling is wrapped in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele-themed wallpaper, while the colour colour palette of the Formica furniture and veneered wooden panelling alludes to the Milanese cafes of the 1950s and 60s. *Courtesy Fondazione Prad*

A image of arcade games — 4220790325001

A few of the diverting offerings of Wes Anderson's bar, and a colour-turning 'Eat' sign in action *Video: Antonio Camera*

Italian working class building dripping - or painted, at least - in 24-karat gold. — One of the most striking effects at the Fondazione Prada: a classic, Italian working class building dripping - or painted, at least - in 24-karat gold

The gleaming exteriors, seats have the golden touch — The vast complex also houses a cinema. Like the gleaming exteriors, seats have the golden touch too. It can be transformed into an open theatre, too.

Cinema's seats — The cinema's first showing will be Roman Polanski's latest film.

A view of the new Milan venue of Fondazione Prada, pioneered by OMA. Courtesy of Fondazione Prada

Open-air courtyard — The space itself unfolds like a creative village with charming public spaces and open-air courtyard. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

Dutch Architect Rem Koohlhaas and his firm OMA transformed the old distillery into a sprawling complex of nearly 19,000 sq meters. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

The Fondazione Prada is an intriguing hodge-podge of different buildings — Visually, the Fondazione Prada is an intriguing hodge-podge of different buildings, styles, spatial sizes, creative themes and time periods. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

The Milanese centre, which launches officially on 9 May, will be open to the public seven days a week. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

A campus of buildings set around a courtyard make up the elaborate and sprawling setting of Prada's new home. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

The building’s contrasting architecture — Prada and Bertelli's aesthetics seamlessly translate into the building’s contrasting architecture.

A view of Fondazione Prada. Shiny mirrored surfaces battle against raw concrete interiors; tiny, intimate rooms contrast with vacuous warehouse-sized hangars.

Exhibition view of ‘Serial Classic’, co-curated by Salvatore Settis and Anna Anguissola. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

One of the many pieces of Prada's art collection: 'Penelope'. *Courtesy of Tubingen, Institut fur Klassische Archaologie*

Collection of ancient sculptures — 'Serial Classic' explore seriality and copying in classical art through a collection of ancient sculptures and reproductions which are arranged over a landscape of stone slabs.

Salon-style displays of paintings — Displays range from busy, salon-style displays of paintings to wider, open spaces. Flexibility and adaptability were essential for both Koolhaas and Bertelli.

One of three adjacent structures from the original ‘Cisteria — Damien Hirst’s ‘Lost Love’ fills one of three adjacent structures from the original ‘Cisteria’, as seen from above here.

Exhibition at Gagosian Gallery — A closer look at Damien Hirst’s ‘Lost Love’, the famous submerged gynaecologist’s office which houses shoals of African river fish, originally created for an exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, New York.

'Corner Door and Doorframe,' by Robert Gober. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

Raw concrete interiors and exteriors — Shiny mirrored surfaces battle against raw concrete interiors and exteriors.

Set in the southern section of the city across from bleak railroad tracks, Fondazione Prada’s neighbourhood is a fry cry from the trendy and affluent parts of town.

Original industrial buildings of the old distillery are juxtaposed with dramatic and bold new ones; a permanent interaction of new and old.Courtesy Fondazione Prada

Prada Foundation's new home has more than twice the exhibition space than that of the new Whitney Museum of American Art.

A image of building terrace — The ambitious project was a decade in the making. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

The heart of the fashion and furniture — Milan may be known as the heart of the fashion and furniture design world, but contemporary art has never been its forte - until now. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

The Sud gallery and the Deposito host which features cars — The Sud gallery and the Deposito host 'An Introduction,' which features cars by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, Carsten Höller, Tobias Rehberger and Sarah Lucas.

A closer look at Sarah Lucas’s Marlboro Light cigarettes-covered vehicles.

Prada's private collection has been liberally borrowed from to put on ‘An Introduction *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

Barnett Newman, Donald Judd and Jeff Koons all hang side by side in a 15th-century 'studiolo' display. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

A image of stairs — Rem Koolhaas intended to make old and new work seamlessly.

A private foundation — ‘People keep asking me if this is an art gallery, a public museum or a private foundation,’ Bertelli told us in a private preview. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

White concrete, aluminium and glass — Some areas of the 1910 distillery - old warehouses and brewing silos - remain in their raw, quirky states, while others have been reimagined in white concrete, aluminium and glass. *Courtesy Fondazione Prada*

New Milan venue of Fondazione Prada, pioneered by OMA.

A view of the compelling campus as the sun sets. *Courtesy of Fondazione Prada*

Warehouse-sized hangars — Tiny, intimate rooms contrast with vacuous warehouse-sized hangars.

Prada and Rem Koolhaas' collaborations have ranged from flagship stores in New York and LA to an ambitious Transformer pavilion in Seoul. This Milanese playground is their latest joint project.

Conceived by OMA and led by Rem Koolhaas, Fondazione Prada combines preexisting building with three new structures, transforming a former distillery into a mammoth exhibition space. *Courtesy OMA and Fondazione Prada*

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