Continuing its long-lasting collaboration with Prada, OMA’S research and design branch AMO created a cinematic scenography for the brand’s 2022 Fall Winter Menswear show. Yellow carpeting envelops the hall of Deposito at Fondazione Prada, reimagined as a theatrical setting with olive-green theatre chairs and stage lighting. In juxtaposition, sci-fi looking metal-clad tunnels bathed in neon lights emphasize “the uncanny relationship between the theatrical and technological atmospheres”.
Described by Prada as “a representation of a heightened actuality”, AMO’s design brings the atmosphere of theatre and cinema at the forefront of the show. Guests enter through a bare concrete tunnel echoing the raw materiality of Deposito, in stark contrast with the design of the soft and moody atmosphere of performance space. Models make their way into the spacious room through sci-fi-inspired tunnels of metal grating lit with neon lights, echoing the design of a spaceship. Chairs are organized along an orthogonal grid inside the venue, leaving a zig-zag runway space where theatre spotlights follow the models. To further emphasize this blurred line between fiction and reality, Hollywood actors were called to model the garments.
The longstanding collaboration between OMA/AMO and Prada, which dates back to 2004, is a fertile ground for architectural experiment, generating impactful designs like the 2009 Prada Transformer, runway shows that circumvent expectations or carefully crafted architectural projects like the headquarters of Fondazione Prada.
Project: Prada FW22 Menswear Show
Partner in Charge: Rem Koolhaas
Team: Giulio Margheri, Alex Tintea, Theodora Gelali, Eugene Kim, Luisa Carvalho Punchirolli
