Bringing together a week of exhibitions, installations, and industry exchange, Milan Design Week 2026 and the 64th edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano concluded on April 26, following six days of programming across the fairgrounds and the city. Held from April 20 to 26, this year's events reaffirmed Milan's central role within the global design calendar. The Salone itself drew over 316,000 visitors from 167 countries. With 1,900 brands represented and a strong international presence, the week once again operated as both a cultural platform and an economic engine, navigating a context marked by market uncertainty while maintaining its capacity to convene designers, institutions, and industry leaders at a global scale.
Across the city, Fuorisalone 2026 unfolded under the theme "Be the Project," foregrounding process-oriented approaches and experimental modes of production. Within this framework, installations and exhibitions operated as platforms for inquiry, engaging with questions of sustainability, material innovation, and technological development. This direction was reflected in the Fuorisalone Award 2026, which recognized a range of projects shaping this year's discourse: Škoda Auto's Ooooh, that's EpiQ!, Ricardo Orts Ulises, emerged among the most prominent interventions, while RE: PROGRAMMING WOOD at Dropcity and NikeAir_Lab by Nike in collaboration with Dropcity were acknowledged for their emphasis on research and innovation. Projects such as Reference Library by Apartamento and Jil Sander, alongside When Apricots Blossom at Palazzo Citterio, further underscored the role of installations as spaces for engagement, narrative construction, and cross-cultural exchange.
Read on to discover ArchDaily's curated selection of 15 installations and exhibitions from Milan Design Week 2026.
Ooooh, that's EpiQ! By Ricardo Orts Ulises
Set within the historic courtyard of Palazzo del Senato, Ooooh, that's EpiQ! by Ricardo Orts Ulises transformed the former State Archives into a fluid and immersive spatial environment during Milan Design Week 2026. Developed for Škoda Auto, the installation drew from the campaign's modeling dough concept, introducing soft, malleable volumes that reconfigured the courtyard as a continuously shifting landscape. In contrast with the rigid geometry of the historic architecture, these sculptural forms established a dynamic dialogue between permanence and transformation, positioning play and adaptability as key spatial drivers. At its core, an interactive digital dome extended the experience through real-time visualizations, merging physical and virtual layers into a single responsive system, while moments of pause and interaction were embedded throughout the space. The project stood out for its ability to translate a visual identity into an architectural experience, ultimately receiving the top recognition at the Fuorisalone Award 2026.
Metamorphosis in Motion by Lina Ghotmeh
Installed in the courtyard of Palazzo Litta, Metamorphosis in Motion by Lina Ghotmeh formed the centerpiece of MoscaPartners Variations 2026 during Milan Design Week 2026. Conceived as her first outdoor site-specific intervention in Italy, the installation transformed the Baroque courtyard into a sequence of immersive environments guided by her "Archaeology of the Future" approach. Composed of modular elements arranged in dialogue with the existing geometry, the project introduced a vivid chromatic field that contrasted with the historic fabric, shaping a soft, maze-like landscape of movement and pause. Pathways, seating areas, and spaces for talks, encouraging visitors to slow down and engage with one another, while subtle olfactory cues added a sensory layer. Through this interplay of color, material, and atmosphere, the installation reactivated the courtyard's historical role as a space of gathering, proposing a contemporary setting for collective experience and exchange.
When Apricots Blossom by Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation / Kulapat Yantrasast
Presented at Palazzo Citterio during Milan Design Week 2026, When Apricots Blossom, commissioned by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation and curated by Kulapat Yantrasast, offered an immersive exploration of craft, memory, and environmental change in Karakalpakstan and the Aral Sea region. Bringing together newly commissioned works by a group of international designers in collaboration with Uzbek artisans, the exhibition unfolded through themes of textiles, food, and shelter, foregrounding how material traditions carry cultural knowledge across generations. Installations ranged from contemporary reinterpretations of bread rituals and craft techniques to spatial interventions such as a deconstructed yurt, collectively constructing a narrative around resilience in the face of ecological transformation.
Città delle Idee by Mario Cucinella Architects
Installed at Solferino 28, Città delle Idee by Mario Cucinella Architects explored the future of urban construction through large-scale 3D printing technologies. Developed in collaboration with Heidelberg Materials and Erretics, the installation presented a modular city composed of interlocking elements made from cementitious material, wood, and transparent plastic, three components already embedded in the contemporary urban fabric. Produced through an advanced additive manufacturing process, the project translated construction logic into a system of assemblable and disassemblable parts, proposing a flexible and reversible approach to building. By combining material experimentation with digital fabrication, the installation framed the city as an open-ended structure shaped by interaction, exchange, and the continuous generation of ideas, extending Cucinella's ongoing research into sustainable and technologically driven architectural systems.
OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER by 6:AM
Hosted at the historic Centro Balneare Romano, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER by 6:AM transformed the 1929 swimming pool designed by Luigi Lorenzo Secchi into an immersive environment of repetition, material iteration, and spatial accumulation. Set within a wider architectural context that includes works by Gio Ponti and Vittoriano Viganò, the installation activated the site through a constellation of glass-based objects and modular elements drawn from both new and existing collections. These components were deployed across the pool complex as spatial agents, extending from lighting to architectural fragments, and gradually constructing an environment where objects, gestures, and structures continuously echo one another. Framed around repetition as a generative principle, the project translated craft processes into spatial form, where variation emerges through iteration and error.
NikeAir_Lab by Nike x Dropcity
Presented at Dropcity, NikeAir_Lab by Nike, in collaboration with Dropcity, offered a temporary preview of a forthcoming permanent research and production space dedicated to Nike Air technologies. Framed as an exploration of air as a design medium, the installation combined archival materials with hands-on tool stations and workshops, where visitors engaged with processes such as shaping, compressing, and visualizing air through advanced machinery. Bringing together nearly 100 prototypes, athlete-driven innovations, and research materials, the project positioned design as an iterative and performative act. Recognized with a Special Mention for Technology & Innovation at the Fuorisalone Award 2026, the installation extended Dropcity's broader ambition to establish a long-term civic platform for design, production, and experimentation in Milan.
Renaissance of the Real by Annabelle Schneider and Snøhetta
Presented at Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Renaissance of the Real by Annabelle Schneider, in collaboration with USM Modular Furniture and Snøhetta, proposed a multisensory installation centered on presence, perception, and physical experience in an increasingly digital environment. Set within the museum's courtyard, the project reinterpreted the USM Haller modular system as an architectural framework supporting a soft, responsive textile membrane, forming a cocoon-like space where structure and fluidity coexist. Visitors were guided through a composed sensory environment shaped by light, sound, scent, and touch. Rather than foregrounding spectacle, the installation focused on slowing perception, using spatial design as a tool to counter digital overstimulation and re-establish a direct relationship with the physical world.
Il Sonno by SolidNature and OMA/AMO
Presented within the framework of designboom's "Room for Dreams" takeover at ME Milan Il Duca, Il Sonno Supermarket by OMA/AMO in collaboration with SolidNature reimagined the supermarket as a static geological landscape. Conceived as an immersive spatial typology, the installation retained the familiar logic of retail aisles and shelving while replacing everyday commodities with sculpted stone objects. Bottles, food items, and household products were meticulously recreated in marble, onyx, and other natural materials, shifting perception from consumption to observation. Set within a lightweight structure of polycarbonate and metal trusses, the space maintained the visual cues of a supermarket while introducing a slower, more contemplative tempo shaped by material permanence, mirrored surfaces, and controlled lighting.
INSIEME by Sabato De Sarno
Presented at Piscina Cozzi, INSIEME is a group exhibition curated by Sabato De Sarno and presented by Vanity Fair Italia that shifts attention away from the finished object toward the human processes behind it. Bringing together twelve Italian companies across glass, ceramics, metal, stone, wood, and textile traditions, the exhibition reframes design as a collective field of gestures, knowledge, and time. Rather than focusing on iconic products, each contribution highlights the invisible dimensions of making, labor, decisions, and craftsmanship, foregrounding the role of human judgment within contemporary production systems. Structured as a material map of Italian know-how, the installation unfolds as a layered narrative where tradition and experimentation intersect, while a central intervention by JR reinforces the exhibition's focus on the human presence behind every object.
Continuous Present: The Philosophy of Andrea Branzi by Toyo Ito
On view at Triennale Milano from March 19 to October 4, 2026, Continuous Present: The Philosophy of Andrea Branzi, designed by Toyo Ito, is a major monographic exhibition presented in collaboration with the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain during Milan Design Week 2026. Dedicated to the legacy of Andrea Branzi, the exhibition unfolds as a biographical and conceptual journey through his radical practice, from early experiments with Archizoom to his later anthropological approach to design. Conceived as a "continuous present," Toyo Ito structures the exhibition as a fluid spatial sequence where works exist in constant relation rather than linear chronology, emphasizing movement, overlap, and transformation. Across more than 400 works, including models, installations, drawings, and archival materials, the display constructs a shifting archipelago of themes such as ecology, hybridity, and urban critique, with key projects like No-Stop City and the Open Enclosures reactivated as central spatial and theoretical anchors.
The Eames Houses by Triennale Milano
Presented at Triennale Milano during Milan Design Week 2026, The Eames Houses is a major exhibition project developed by the Eames Office in collaboration with Kettal and the Charles & Ray Eames Foundation. Running from April 21 to May 10, 2026, the exhibition brings together a wide selection of previously underexplored architectural works by Charles and Ray Eames, reframing their practice through the lens of housing and spatial systems. Life-size, walk-through installations of the Eames Pavilion System are presented alongside archival drawings, films, photographs, and newly produced models of residential projects, revealing architecture as a continuous strand within their multidisciplinary output. Spanning 800 square meters, the exhibition positions the Eameses' domestic experiments not as isolated projects but as part of a broader system of design thinking grounded in modularity, efficiency, and adaptability.
Coalescence by Architectural Association
Presented within the Alcova program at the former Centro Ospedaliero Militare di Baggio, Coalescence by the Architectural Association brought together the work of 25 designers from across its current students and recent graduates. Installed in the building's former laundries, the exhibition engaged directly with the site's material memory of labor and process, framing design as an act of transformation and making. Conceived by visiting school director Christopher Pierce and curated by Nichola Barrington-Leach, the installation centered on a large table made from reclaimed stone and raw pigment, around which a series of experimental works were displayed. Spanning craft-based techniques and advanced digital fabrication, the objects collectively explored the threshold where material, process, and form converge, positioning the exhibition space as a site of coalescence between disciplines, methods, and temporalities.
Threshold by Objects of Common Interest
Presented at the former Centro Ospedaliero Militare di Baggio, within the Alcova program, Threshold by Objects of Common Interest, in collaboration with Dooor, investigates how minimal interventions can define spatial experience. Installed in Hangar 1, the project constructs a fully white interior composed of lightweight divider systems that generate space through thin, permeable boundaries rather than a solid enclosure. Framed as a study of threshold conditions, the installation dissolves the distinction between object, partition, and architecture, proposing space as something continuously negotiated rather than fixed. Within this suspended environment, perception and stillness become the primary modes of engagement, positioning architecture as an effect of subtle separation.
Seat in Touch by Supaform
Seat in Touch by Maxim Scherbakov and Supaform, in collaboration with Esthetic Joys, presented at the former Centro Ospedaliero Militare di Baggio, rethinks the social logic of utilitarian public spaces through a furniture-based installation. Positioned between art and design, the project translates familiar infrastructures, such as transport systems and municipal environments, into a shared seating typology that reflects on proximity, anonymity, and collective presence. Rather than treating these spaces as transitional, the installation reframes them as moments of unintended encounter, where people occupy the same field without predefined relationships or destinations. Through this lens, the sofa becomes a spatial device for co-presence, shifting the focus from movement to shared stillness, and from functionality to the subtle dynamics of being together in public space.
Villa Pestarini
Villa Pestarini has opened to the public for the first time during Milan Design Week 2026. Designed in 1938–39 by Franco Albini at the age of 33, the villa is one of the clearest expressions of Italian Rationalism, defined by a restrained geometry, a white rectangular volume, glass-block façades, and large openings framing the surrounding garden. Carefully preserved over decades, the house retains Albini's characteristic balance between discipline and poetry, visible in details such as the shallow marble staircase, sliding partitions, and bespoke furniture elements. Suspended in time, the villa offers an intact architectural environment where clarity of structure and spatial precision remain fully legible, making it a rare example of Rationalist domestic space preserved in its original conceptual and material coherence.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's coverage of Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile 2026.
