EXHIBITION INTRODUCTORY TEXT

EXHIBITION INTRODUCTORY TEXT

The exhibition traces the evolution of Milan’s interiors, which directly reflects the social and cultural shifts of a city envisioning its future. Through a comprehensive exploration, it reveals the extraordinary interplay between tradition and modernity that has defined all of Milanese and Italian culture, inevitably shaping even the house structures and interior designs. This dialogue unfolds on multiple fronts and in different languages, embodying not only the often-challenging relationship with modernist European avant-garde movements but also an ongoing exchange with modes and artistic experimentation.

It often involved adapting existing spaces to the new dynamics of evolving families, transforming unusual spaces like precarious attics and panoramic rooftops, and reinterpreting the grandeur of noble salons with a contemporary touch.

Milanese homes present a rich catalogue of alternatives, variants, spatial solutions and hybrid typologies – a diversity poured into the design of furniture and objects that combine intuitive functionality with a strong representation of the forms of the new and the future.

Drawing from the research published in the recent volume, NELLE CASE - MILAN INTERIORS 1928-1978 by Enrico Morteo and Orsina Simona Pierini, the exhibition highlights selected themes documenting the evolution of domestic spaces over fifty years, from the founding of Domus and Casabella to the explosion of post-modernism.

ATTIC ROOM PRESENTATION

THE ARCHITECTS' HOMES – What we have gathered here are 71 houses designed and built by Milanese architects for themselves.

71 houses that represent only a small fraction of what was constructed in the city over 50 years, but they offer a vivid snapshot of evolution of Milanese domestic design.

71 houses that are emblematic in their construction, interior decoration, spatial layout and the way they relate to the urban landscape.

71 houses that will allow us to step into the private world of those who shaped the Milanese way of living, setting the standards for domestic life, defining tastes, and crafting the social and personal backdrops that framed the city’s everyday life.

In these homes, the gap between the architect’s vision and the inhabitant's expectations is narrowed, with no need for compromises to make a space’s design, a pathway’s flow, or even the elimination of corridors and service rooms acceptable.

For these reasons, the 71 architects' homes carry a paradigmatic value, serving as benchmarks for gauging the level of innovation gradually transferred to mainstream construction. Most of these houses were published and featured in magazines – Domus and Casabella above all – that consistently documented the most brilliant developments, setting models and offering inspiration for other to follow.

Their being slightly ahead of their time should not mislead us into thinking these houses were eccentric, overly quirky, or particularly fanciful.

The closeness between architects and their clients, belonging to the same cultural and social environment, and sharing broadly similar values, reduced the distance between aspiration and realization.

More than anywhere else, in Milan the culture of living has managed to blend the accelerations of architectural avant-gardes with the values, habits and ambitions of an educated, curious bourgeoisie open to the novelties of the future.