OMA completes Fondazione Prada’s Torre in Milan
![OMA completes Fondazione Prada’s Torre in Milan](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RvuYAiN5Q7AMKoneBmueuB-415-80.jpg)
When the Fondazione Prada opened its doors in Milan to critical acclaim in 2015, the fashion, art and architecture worlds found a natural home in the OMA-designed complex. The site, a former distillery dating from 1910, has been widely covered and lovingly visited since, but behind the scenes, further works have been quietly underway. Now, the foundation and its architects have just announced the completion of the complex’s next phase – its imposing tower.
Fittingly named ‘Torre’, this new element brings height to the campus, which is composed of seven structures in a calculated mix of looks and sizes. The completed design, headed by Rem Koolhaas, with Chris van Duijn and Federico Pompignoli, also marks the completion of the Milan venue.
A soaring 60m of white concrete, the tower unfolds across a total surface of approximately 2.000 sq m and nine levels. Six of these are exhibition spaces, with a restaurant, a panoramic terrace with a rooftop bar, and further visitor facilities occupying the remaining floors.
Each floor is designed to host specific environmental conditions, according to the type of art displayed within. The height varies accordingly too. Glass opening are cut out of the concrete form, making the most of the Italian sun. The irregular shape allows for the variations in sizes and needs, cantilevering gracefully over the public spaces.
‘Torre is the final section of a collection of different exhibition conditions that together define Fondazione Prada’, says Koolhaas, going on to focus on the tower’s own, varied exhibition spaces. ‘Together these variations produce a radical diversity within a simple volume – so that the interaction between the spaces and specific events or works of art offer an endless variety of conditions…’ One thing, points out Koolhaas, brings it all together. ‘The staircase is the one element unifying all irregularities – its complexity lifts it beyond the typical pragmatic element, the staircase has become a highly charged architectural element.’
The Torre is scheduled to officially open its doors to the public on the 20th April 2018.
Fittingly named ‘Torre’, the structure completes the foundation’s complex. courtesy Fondazione Prada
INFORMATION
For more information visit the OMA website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Take off: Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic Cauldron rises into the Parisian night sky
The Paris 2024 Olympics’ opening ceremony was closed with a soaring cauldron spectacle that will go down in history
By Hugo Macdonald Published
-
Phaidon’s new Graphic Classics is a lavish greatest hits of graphic design
Graphic Classics is a compendium of seven centuries of visual culture, from the everyday and ephemeral to visionary works that reshaped our world
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s Chelsea
The new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
By Melina Keays Published
-
‘Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings’ is an essential tour of the Italian master’s works
‘Carlo Scarpa: The Complete Buildings’ is the perfect book for architecture enthusiasts
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
New Aesop Milan store is a haven of beauty and tranquillity
The latest Aesop Milan store to open is a hub of wellness, beauty and tranquillity in the Italian metropolis
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The Lantern cultural hub in Detroit by OMA balances ‘light touch’ and ‘dramatic impact’
Library Street Collective’s Lantern, a new cultural hub in Detroit, was designed by OMA New York and is a signature rebuild that makes the most of the site’s existing structures
By Siska Lyssens Published
-
A new water mirror casts a misty veil over ancient Roman baths
Architect Hannes Peer reveals a water mirror in Rome – an immersive architectural installation at the heart of the ancient Baths of Caracalla
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Giovanni Michelucci’s dramatic concrete church in the Italian Dolomites
Giovanni Michelucci’s concrete Church of Santa Maria Immacolata in the Italian Dolomites is a reverently uplifting memorial to the victims of a local disaster
By Jonathan Glancey Published
-
Milan’s 10 Corso Como revamp nods to the concept store’s industrial character
Milanese concept store 10 Corso Como unveils its new look by 2050+, a stripped-back design that nods to its 20th-century character
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Carlo Ratti announced curator of Venice Architecture Biennale 2025
Carlo Ratti has been revealed as the Director of the Architecture Department at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, with the specific task of curating the 19th International Architecture Exhibition
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Floating infinity pool by Herzog & De Meuron at Lake Como is largest of its kind
Herzog & de Meuron creates the largest floating infinity pool in the world for Mandarin Oriental in Lake Como
By Lauren Ho Published