INTERNI Design Re-Generation: what the FuoriSalone 2022 exhibition-event was like

Conceived by the director of our magazine Gilda Bojardi with the Interni team and co-produced by Audi, Eni-Plenitude and Whirlpool, the Design Re-Generation exhibition-event was a collective story focused on the relationship between design, nature and artifice, animated by installations created by leading architects in collaboration with committed companies on the innovation and sustainable development front.

INTERNI Design Re-Generation has occupied, in addition to the University of Milan, three other city spaces: the Brera Botanical Garden, where CRA - Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota have created Feeling the Energy for the co-producer Eni-Plenitude (winner of the FuoriSalone Award 2022 in the interaction category); the Medelan in Piazza Cordusio, home of the House of Progress by co-producer Audi; and IBM Studios in Piazza Gae Aulenti with the exhibitions Looking to the future and The Slowdown refuge by Giulio Cappellini.

The installations in the Honor Court of the University of Milan

38 installations animated the University of Milan this year, starting with the Courtyard of Honor, which welcomed the visitor with its wide open spaces.

First of all, Sidereal Station by AMDL Circle and Michele de Lucchi for the co-producer Whirlpool, a reflective tower of 14 meters with a space-age look that it took the visitor to a domestic context where everything was designed for living well-being.

The best place to admire it was the roof of the other installation of the Cortile d'Onore: Fabbrica by Piero Lissoni for Sanlorenzo: which, evoking the scaffolding of shipyards, gave an unprecedented view from above and the thrill of walking on the deck of a yacht. One of the most photographed installations in the evening, when the integrated LED lighting gave it a magical lightness.

Opposite, the Renaissance columns of the University transformed into Giants, the mythological characters inspired by the history and culture of Sardinia, by Antonio Marras for De Castelli.

Next to it, the meeting pod Alis, a project by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with Tecno, a space for contemporary work with fluid organic lines stolen from the plant world.

Immediately behind, the large black box of the Brazilian Isay Weinfeld for Portobello, Casone Group, Mapei and Pietra Serena Group: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius, a black box that inside revealed a world of creative connections between cinema, music, dance, architecture and theater.

Diego Grandi proposed instead Nuova Mineralia, display of objects in Mathera, a new generation surface born from the collaboration with SAIB and made of coated end-of-life wood with natural stone powders. Giacomo Garziano of GG-loop for Rubner Haus instead explored the archetype of the primordial refuge with Echinoidea, wooden shell inspired by sea urchins.

The voice of Idra, the colorful fountain by Elena Salmistraro, had fun with the taps in the shape of a dragon's tongue and with voice control, created in collaboration with Guglielmi Taps.

Alongside, the homage to the essence and colors of the Mediterranean in the installation Influence, stone volumes inspired by the new bathroom collections Ona by Roca and designed by Cobalto Studio.

Our relationship with technology and the power that design has in creating more meaningful interactions between people and machines was instead the theme of Fractal, an immersive installation by Deutsche Telekom Design & Customer Experience and Layer.

And while Love Song, a sculpture in white Carrara marble by RonArad and Associates for Citco played on the distortion of the word Love, Cellia Life by Progetto CMR with Focchi Group and Mitsubishi Electric proposed an envelope system to be installed both on existing buildings and on new construction works, to significantly improve their energy efficiency.

The calls of history: in the Courtyard of the Pharmacy, the eighteenth century and the Baths

Winking to history to talk about contemporaneity is one of the approaches that some of the architects involved in Design Re-Generation have followed, taking up the theme of the labyrinth and the ruin of the classical age.

Like Lissoni Associati who, in the courtyard of the Pharmacy, created with Amazon A-Maze Garden, a composition of curved arrow-shaped walls covered with mirrored aluminum arranged to form a sort of labyrinth in an Italian garden.

And like Raffaello Galiotto who for Nardi, in the courtyard of the eighteenth century, created a real Labyrinth Garden, outdoor multicursal labyrinth consisting of an articulated circular path with walls made of plastic curtains 100% regenerated and recyclable and fitted with plants (very pleasant in the heat of June).

Great and imposing too Phoenix, architecture in material recycled polymer and concrete that Jacopo Foggini created for Beton Eisack: a sort of temple that rises as an extension of the ruins that dominate the Cortile dei Bagni , flying over them, taking up their shapes, textures and colors.

The great hall

Benedetta Tagliabue with Fundaciò Enric Miralles signed the installation Perpetuum Furniture created in collaboration with AHEC - American Hardwood Export Council (hall aula magna): for the first time the furniture that the architect Catalano designed together with his partner Benedetta Tagliabue with an idea of ​​a house in motion, where even the furniture did not have a stable place or shape.

While, in front of the Hall of the Aula Magna, Alessandro Scandurra conceived and produced for iGuzzini illuminazione Life, a sort of imaginary theater, the landing in a luminous place from which the energy of every day.

The relaxation areas

Four relaxation corners: two by Pininfarina Architecture for Higold Group, with comfortable seats with minimalist and sinuous shapes from the Onda collection. And two by Missoni, signed by the creative director of the maison Alberto Caliri, with fun oversized outdoor furniture covered with the unmistakable colors of the brand.

Finally, in the Richini portico, the exhibition Poesia do cotidiano by Bruno Simoes for ApexBrasil offered a mirror of what Brazilian design has been and it is through 40 pieces that reinterpret the objects of popular production.

The installations in the arcades

In the porch of the Cortile d'onore, Clean Water: Please, a gondola filled with waste recovered from the Venice lagoon painted in Klein blue was the project of Marco Nereo Rotelli with Ever in Art.

EpicArc, on the other hand, welcomed visitors with the ceramic tables by Andrea Boschetti-Metrogramma for Mirage, while Deanna Comellini started with the carpet, the primary element of the house , to create housing units with G.T.Design.

The students of the BA in Interior Design and Architecture of the IUAD Academy presented The sails of the Rebirth, an eco-design project in thin aluminum strips behind which to discover products transformed from recycled materials . The Creative team of Lladró designed a porcelain chandelier in the autumn version for the installation Seasons, halfway between art and technical craftsmanship.

Elementa of ovre.design, on the other hand, are four rooms that house decorative artifacts made by skilled Italian artisans of Cerasarda and the installation of Intro. Each space of the installation focuses on one of the elements of nature, whose luminous symbol is revealed only when the visitor sees it reflected in the mirror.

Ode to knowledge, made with books of recovery, was instead the installation of LibriBianchi by Lorenzo and Simona Perrone in front of the statue of Sant'Ambrogio.

While the winning projects of the third edition of the competition Design, a journey between Italy and Spain (by the Embassy of Italy in Madrid and in collaboration with Interni and the Spanish design associations) were presented through the Mediterranea installation by Gianluca Pugliese founder of Lowpoly Design Studio.

The remembered the stalls of a market Light Structures for Concrete Thoughts of the installation by Franco Raggi and Maria Christina Hamel for Milan Makers, which this year celebrates 10 years of activity.

While Roberta Studio and Paolo Michieli with Michieli Floricoltura created a large green wave made of thousands of plants of Tillandsia ionantha ionantha.

Many signatures also intervened in the two environments of PRESS OFFICE, reinterpreted by Mac Stopa and Massive Design with Forbo Flooring Systems, between wallpapers inspired by nature and flocked floors decorated with digital graphics. The press room also hosted the presentation of FIND - Design Fair Asia, the furniture and interior design fair that will take place from 22 to 24 September in Singapore.

Portal installations

Noteworthy is the glance given by Niccolò Castellini Baldissera in collaboration with the historic fabric company C & C Milan, for the installation at Portal of the grand staircase Fabricanting Culture, an arch formed by books covered with colored and green fabrics.

The staircase of the South Portal was instead transformed by the 4-way Silent-Iconic cassette by Hitachi Cooling & Heating that LuccheseDesign created the experiential tunnel Endless Ceiling.

The installations of the Loggiati

Other installations on the two loggias. From Tibet, by Andrea Branzi who with Porro has proposed a bookcase with clean and essential shapes for displaying skulls and household objects. The creative team of K3, the luxury home and lifestyle brand founded by Kenzo Takada, offered visitors an invitation to meditation with a series of decorated poufs.

While the philosophical title of Breath welcomed visitors with reflections, lights and sounds for the installation of Fujifilm Italia with FTA-Filippo Taidelli.

Finally, on the front porch Paolo Castagna and Gianni Ravelli from CastagnaRavelli talked about light as a source of life for Ledvance with Eurostands, installation with five egg-shaped shapes.

The talks produced by INTERNI

Three talks were also produced by INTERNI and offered to the public in attendance during FuoriSalone 2022:

A platform for co-design: Italy and Korea (by the Embassy of Italy in Seoul in collaboration with INTERNI) - watch the video

Surfaces: feel the difference (which anticipates Superfaces, scheduled at the Rimini Fair from 12 to 14 October 2022) - watch the video

Breath: design and empathic communication in the treatment path (in collaboration with Fujifilm Italia) - watch the video

Thanks

The INTERNI team thanks the partners:

Amaro Amara, Acqua Vera, Paolo Pigna Paper Mills, Danese, Doma Food & Party Design, Fonoprint, Guapa Tropical Beauty, Guzzini, illycaffè, Kartell, MT Masking Tape, Planet Farms, Ruffino, Sony, True Design.