Milan Design Week 2026 is in full swing (follow our live blog to keep up). With the preeminent industry event now marked by an increasing number of exhibits, it’s often necessary for visitors to take a break at some point in the day, even if just for a few minutes. With all the kilometres walked, quick conversations had, emails checked, and Instagram posts perused, a reset is essential to keeping one’s spirits high. And while a coffee and pastry stop, or an aperitivo towards the end of the afternoon can do the trick, it’s not always the healthiest option.
Experience designer Annabelle Schneider inside the space
An alternative this year is heritage Swiss furniture brand USM’s ‘Renaissance of the Real’ installation, produced in partnership with international architecture firm Snøhetta and imagined with Swiss-born, New York-based experience designer Annabelle Schneider. Presented in the courtyard of the storied Fondazione Luigi Rovati, the project is both sculpture and space.
Constructed using the USM Haller modular furniture system as a full-scale exoskeleton, the pavilion-like structure bubbles over as membrane fabric – parachute-grade polyurethane – inflates outward from within the metal tube and connector ball structure, creating a soft environment inside.
‘Guests are invited to slow down, [turn off their phones], take a break, go in, take shoes off, lay down and see what the breathing space does to them,’ Schneider says. ‘I think we’re living in an over-stimulated world where we’ve lost connection to ourselves; to what it means to be human. I think art and design have the power to bring us back to the physical and slow us down for a moment.’
Snøhetta was instrumental in determining the sequencing of the interior Adding a level of perceptible drama, the spaces get progressively smaller. The at-times sharp contrast in proportion helps hold the attention, keeping visitors in the moment. The hope is that phone usage is reduced.
As part of Schneider’s well-refined neuroaesthetic approach – the psychology of how visual and sensorial encounters influence our wellbeing and mood – the experience activated all of the senses. As guests arrive, they're given a hot towel. As they move through the installation, scent and sound are carefully calibrated as guiding forces. The use of a pale pink tone throughout was not arbitrary but also carefully deployed to help change perception. She has mounted similar installations at events such as New York Design Week and with similar intent: to help overwhelmed visitors take a much needed pause and re-engage with their immediate surroundings.
The intimate yet perhaps shared experience ends back outside, within the center of the courtyard; the ultimate environment for quiet contemplation. ‘We can’t just be fluid, passive in life,’ Schneider says. ‘We need a bit of guidance and framework as well. We need a balance of both.’
Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Corso Venezia 52, 20121 Milan, Tuesday 21 April – Sunday 26 April 2026, 10am-7pm daily