‘Home Sweet Home’ at Milan Triennale explores the many meanings of the modern home
‘Home Sweet Home’ kicks off the Triennale’s 100th anniversary celebrations with a critical, design-led approach to the theme of the house and domestic space

Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Thank you for signing up to Wallpaper. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
‘Home Sweet Home’ is a new exhibition at Triennale Milano (until 10 September 2023) that marks the institution's centenary celebrations. How has the process of designing our house changed? Which developments have occurred over the last century? Nina Bassoli, curator for Architecture, Urban Regeneration, Cities at Triennale, tries to answer these questions, in collaboration with exhibition designers Captcha Architecture.
‘Home Sweet Home’ at Triennale Milano
Bassoli's exhibition explores the transformations in contemporary living proceeding on two parallel tracks: using the Triennale archives, but also adopting new points of view, narrative and languages, to redefine the contradictions between home and work, masculine and feminine, environmentalism and activism, public and private space.
Triangular beds for families or polyamorous couples, multifunctional housing projects with massive social impacts, tables that reflect on sharing daily work and lunch – at home, the lines between reality and fiction, intimacy and exposure are becoming increasingly blurred. 'I think that the most unexpected result of my research definitely consisted in the discovery of how many points of view can come out from an exhibition that focuses predominantly on a theme like the home, that has seen many interpretations over the years,' says Bassoli.
The 15-chapter exhibition is divided into five thematic historic sections bringing together artefacts and materials from the Triennale Milano archives (1923 to 2023), and ten specific environments that function as exhibitions inside exhibitions. Among them, The Sex & the City research group's L'angelo del focolare (Angel of the Hearth) explores the contrasting roles of men and women in public and domestic spaces, while Gaia Piccarolo's Casa ludens (Leisure Home) is about the history of our leisure time, from camping equipment to the first TVs.
Our relationship with nature in the domestic space is also on display, thanks to Annalisa Metta's La natura è di casa (Nature at Home), with a historic gallery that acts as a counterpoint to the Il parlamento delle piante d’appartamento (The House-Plant Parliament) by landscape architect Céline Baumann. Also, the Tre finestre (Three windows) by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio for ‘The domestic project’, shown at the Triennale in 1986 under the direction of Mario Bellini, has been restored and reconfigured in its magnificent original size.
Among the site-specific environments are the MAIO collective's Urban K -Type community kitchens, which speak to us about marginalisation, involvement, and possible emancipation, while L'architettura della longhouse (The Architecture of the Longhouse), in the midst of the hallway, reveals the different types of premodern dwelling from Germany to Indonesia.
'Objects and spaces can change the social relationships among human beings,' says Bassoli. 'The plants that inhabit our homes, apparently stuck there for our private joy, can create a cognitive dissonance between their decorative appearance and a brutal colonial history, like in the House-Plant Parliament installation by Céline Baumann. The exhibition also helps us to discover that a kitchen can become a public space, where the work is shared (Urban K-Type by MAIO) or that a bed can have different shapes and sizes, considering that no family can really be put in a box with a standard shape (A Section of Now by CCA, Canadian Center for Architecture).'
The exhibition is entered by looking in a mirror placed over a reproduction of the bathroom sink, a symbol of daily morning rituals, while the final installation, which doubles as a curtain, is an image from Trasformare, non demolire (Transformation, no Demolition), the celebrated renovation of the 530 flats in Bordeaux's Grand Parc grande ensemble by Pritzker Prize winners Lacaton & Vassal – a political and ecological project. 'Focusing on the home and on all that this wide concept refers to, the exhibition also reflects on the role that Triennale had over the years,' explains Bassoli. 'The institution has always been a place for birth of new ideas, where the concepts of “house” and “living” had a central role. There have been many experiments on reconstruction and on the modernisation of lifestyles, on housing for all, and I was interested in going back to reflect on this, on the proximity between the world of design and the life of each of us, the most intimate and everyday life, made of urgent needs and great dreams.'
‘Home Sweet Home’ is on view at Triennale Milano until 10 September 2023
Triennale
Viale Emilio Alemagna, 6
20121 Milano
Home Sweet Home: from the Triennale archives
Aldo Rossi, Domestic theatre sketch, section dedicated to projects in ‘The Domestic Project’ exhibition, Triennale Milano, 1986
Pietro Geranzani, Automatic C5, 1959,Candy Elettrodomestici
Vittorio Gregotti, Lodovico Meneghetti, Giotto Stoppino, Example of living room in rural housing, ‘Home and School section, Rural sector’, 12th Triennale, 1960
Ugo La Pietra, Armchair with terminal, ‘From the spoon to the city’ exhibition, 1983
Achille Castiglioni, Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Spalter, 1956, for Rem di Enrico Rossetti
Piero Bottoni, Kitchen in The electric house by Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini, 4th Triennale Monza, 1930
Vittorio Gnecchi's room, with gilded and colored wrought iron, 1st Monza Biennale, 1923
Ufficio Tecnico MAM, Elettrospazzola aspiratore mod. 302, 1965, MAM (1967)
Renato G. Angeli, Ico Parisi and Gianni Saibene, Apartment 8: interior of holiday home, bathroom, ‘Home exhibition’, 9th Triennale, 1951
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Sabato De Sarno’s tenure at Gucci begins with a debut collection of real clothes
Italian designer Sabato De Sarno presented his debut collection for Gucci at the house’s Milan hub, which was inspired by what the Italian designer called ‘the joy of life’
By Jack Moss Published
-
'Emerging Ecologies' at MoMA explores the history of the 'green’ movement
'Emerging Ecologies' opens at MoMA in New York, curated by Ambasz Institute director Carson Chan and seeking the meaning of building 'green'
By Beatrice Galilee Published
-
Tiwa Select opens permanent Tribeca home with a show of new works in Murano glass
Tiwa Select celebrates its permanent New York gallery space with an exhibition of new works by Dana Arbib (until 17 October 2023)
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
New creative hub Spazio Pesca opens in Milan
Spazio Pesca opens as a multifunctional creative hub with interiors by designers Greta Cevenini
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Architects and designers rally to save Milan’s Fondazione Achille Castiglioni
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Flexform photography show celebrates the sofa specialist’s heritage in pictures
Defining Flexform photography from its ad campaigns past transforms the brand’s Milan flagship store into a must-visit for Milan Design Week 2023
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Published
-
Maria Porro on the Italian furniture brand’s Milan reveals and bright future
Forward-thinking, fourth-generation family member Maria Porro is leading the Italian furniture brand Porro towards a bright, innovative future
By Maria Cristina Didero Published
-
Giorgetti Spiga – The Place opens in Milan’s fashion quarter
The new Giorgetti Spiga – The Place transforms a 17th-century palazzo in Milan, showcasing the furniture company's full offering over four floors
By Maria Cristina Didero Published
-
Triennale pays tribute to Angelo Mangiarotti with extensive retrospective
‘Angelo Mangiarotti: When Structures Take Shape’ (until 23 April 2023) is an extensive retrospective of the Milanese architect's work, with contributions from Renzo Piano and UniFor
By Maria Cristina Didero Last updated
-
At Triennale Milano, Francis Kéré and Ersilia Vaudo explore what we don’t know
The 23rd International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, ‘Unknown Unknowns: An Introduction to Mysteries’ brings together art, design, film and research to understand what we will need in the future (on view until 8 January 2023)
By Will Jennings Published
-
Aldo Rossi’s ‘Cabina dell’Elba‘, part beach hut, part wardrobe, is celebrated in Milan
Antonia Jannone presents ‘Aldo Rossi. La Cabina dell'Elba’, exploring the architect’s take on the beach hut as furniture
By Maria Cristina Didero Published