Rem Koolhaas’ OMA have converted a former industrial complex into the new home for designer Miuccia Prada’s Fondazione Prada in Milan, Italy.
The 19,000sq m (204,500sq ft) art campus, has been seven years in the works and was masterplanned by the OMA team of Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn and Federico Pompignoli. Commissioned by Fondazione Prada, the project blends modern and traditional architecture with the regeneration of a 20th century warehouse. Local architects Alvisi Kirimoto & Partners and Atelier Verticale also worked on the project, while Favero&Milan operated as structural engineers.
The former gin distillery is comprised of warehouses, laboratories and brewing silos. The redevelopment project consists of seven existing buildings in addition to three new structures. These include a museum, cinema, auditorium, space for temporary exhibitions and a 10-storey permanent exhibition space to house the foundation’s collection. The project also features a café designed by director Wes Anderson and a large exhibition pavilion.
The redevelopment’s most notable feature is a building known as the Haunted House – a structure clad in 24-carat gold leaf, with only the glass on the windows remaining exposed.
“The Fondazione is not a preservation project and not a new architecture project,” said Rem Koolhaas. “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.
He added: “New, old, horizontal, vertical, wide, narrow, white, black, open, enclosed – all these contrasts establish the range of oppositions that define the new Fondazione. By introducing so many spatial variables, the complexity of the architecture will promote an unstable, open programming, where art and architecture will benefit from each other’s challenges.”
Fondazione Prada was established by Miuccia Prada in 1993 as a cultural organisation dedicated to the arts, cinema and philosophy. The new venue opens to the public on 9 May.
