Archinect - News

Reflecting Prada's philosophical roots in Arte Povera, plus other ghosts of midcentury modernism

2018-08-25T14:13:00-04:00

I kept running my hands over the tower’s concrete walls. Infused with Carrara marble and poured by construction workers who wore white gloves, they feel smooth as silk. The big rectangular and wedge-shaped galleries, windows alternating between panoramas of the city and narrow views over the campus, accommodate best the large-scale works in the inaugural show

Earlier this year, Michael Kimmelman traveled to Milan, for the completion of 'Torre', cornerstone of Fondazione Prada's new campus, by OMA.

Back in April, davvid shared his own review "It's very nice. The whole...complex is beautiful."

OMA completes “Torre” vertical gallery in the Fondazione Prada arts compound

2018-04-19T14:33:00-04:00

Today OMA announced the completion of Torre, the third new structure the firm has completed in the Fondazione Prada arts compound, a former gin distillery in Milan. Standing at 60 meters tall, the white concrete Torre is a vertical art gallery that “is devoted to the development of a new typology for the exhibition of art”, OMA describes.

Photograph by Jacopo Milanesi, Courtesy of OMA.

With Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn, and project architect Federico Pompignoli, as project leads, Torre features a facade with alternating glass and concrete surfaces. The building has nine levels, with each one designed with different spatial parameters and variations. The ceiling height cumulatively increases with each floor, from the bottom to the top of the building.

“[R]ectangular plans alternate with wedge shapes, the orientation of the rooms alternates between panoramic city views to the North, or narrower views in opposite directions, East and We...

Take a look at "Real Fantasies," AMO's latest collaboration with Prada

2016-02-05T13:43:00-05:00

For the 2016 Spring/Summer Prada Real Fantasies, AMO graphically reinterprets the Indefinite Hangar as a synthetic sunset fixed within a 3 dimensional blank space. The abstract hangar is populated with geometric objects and furniture. Characters move through a neutral scene between the undefined and distilled fragments of daily life. The horizon and scale constantly shifts, manipulating the frame and disrupting a linear sequence: an artificial landscape where fiction and collection collide.

OMA and its think tank counterpart, AMO, have deep ties to the fashion world, in particular with Prada. Alongside built work by the architectural powerhouse, notably the recently-completed Fondazione Prada, OMA/AMO has designed runways, look books, and videos for the Milanese luxury brand.

Since 2012, that collaboration has produced graphic short movies showcasing new collections under the project banner "Real Fantasies." For the 2016 Spring/Summer collection, AMO imagined a world of pure architectural extension, a CAD utopia unblemished by reality.

Described as a "3 dimensional blank space," the setting of the video seems locked in an endless sunset. Lithe models ride a train past a city of pure geometry, which morphs seamlessly into an unending picture window.

It's visual porn at it's best and well worth a look. Watch the video below, and for more connections between fashion and architecture, check out these links:

Prada vs Louis Vuitton: The new fashion foundations compared

2015-06-17T14:14:00-04:00

“Money is not an issue here” is the motto that leaps out at you in both the Prada and Vuitton Foundation museums, although in Paris it is thrown into high relief on the building’s facade by the almost vulgar silver logo of Louis Vuitton—the star company in the LVMH group.

SPIEGEL interviews Koolhaas: "We shouldn't tear down buildings we can still use"

2015-05-19T15:00:00-04:00

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas talks to SPIEGEL about the new Fondazione Prada museum he designed in Milan, the danger of turning cities into historical Disneylands and his desire to raze an entire neighborhood of Paris. [...] Koolhaas: Before the 1980s, the decisions were made by cities. Since then power has shifted toward private investors. Nothing good has come of this for Holland. [...] I regret that cities no longer have money to even pursue a vision of their ongoing development.

This Wes Anderson-designed bar is retro with a capital R

2015-05-08T13:53:00-04:00

Filmmaker Wes Anderson has a knack for creating fictional spaces with attention paid to the last excruciating detail. His latest space is real, though, and even better, you can get a drink there. [...] Three new buildings, which were part of a century-old distillery and transformed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, will now house art rather than alcohol. But for the thirsty there’s also a new bar, called Bar Luce, that Anderson designed himself.

OMA's Prada Foundation Arts Complex in Milan

2015-04-26T19:17:00-04:00

Some of the spaces are as Mr. Koolhaas found them; others have been reconfigured but look as though they haven’t been touched. The three new buildings are made of glass, white concrete and an aluminum

Carol Vogel writes about the Prada Foundation’s new arts complex in Milan, designed by OMA.