Architectural Interventions and Exhibitions Taking Place at the 2022 Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile

Written by Dima Stouhi
Published on June 01, 2022

Only a few days left until the annual inauguration of Milan Design Week 2022, one of the biggest international design events which features the Fuorisalone and Salone del Mobile. From the 7th till the 12th of June 2022, the streets of Milan will be hosting an array of architectural interventions and exhibitions curated by local and international designers as part of the Fuorisalone. And at the Fiera Milano | Rho, Salone del Mobile 2022, the awaited furniture and interior design event of the year, will be celebrating its 60th anniversary with themes and projects that reflect on “inclusive” design, fostering "autonomy, comfort, movement, usability, interaction and safety for all".

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As every year, ArchDaily will be attending the Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week, so stay tuned for exclusive events, interviews, and collaborations. Read on to discover what to expect during the week-long exhibition and how architects are taking part of the event.

This year's Salone theme demonstrates that it is both possible and crucial to start embedding sustainability and environmental awareness into furniture production. More than 2,000 exhibitors, including over 600 young designers under the age of 35, will express their own identities and creative freedom, using the exhibition space as both an architectural and communication element with sustainability and ecology as main criteria.

At the Fiera Milano Rho, visitors will explore several recurring and new events simultaneously. The International Furniture Fair, International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, Workplace3.0, the kitchen-focused EuroCucina with the side event FTK: Technology For the Kitchen, and the International Bathroom Exhibition will be exhibiting innovative design solutions, as with every Salone edition. SaloneSatellite will highlight 600 talented designers under the age of 35, and S.Project, a crosscutting space devoted to different fields of design, will make a return following its highly successful debut in 2019. Along with the exhibitions, a programme of Talks will be held by the Salone del Mobile.Milano and SaloneSatellite in their respective arenas. A selection of architects, with the likes of Liam Young and Mario Cucinella, art directors, academics, furniture designers, and illustrators, to name a few, will be interviewed by an all-female trio: Chiara Alessi, Maria Cristina Didero, and Beatrice Leanza, to discuss all things design, innovation, the environment, and the trends and challenges faced today.

Moving faster in the direction of design, production, and distribution solutions that are ethical and as sustainable as possible, Salone will feature a large project curated by architect Mario Cucinella. The 1,400 sqm installation titled Design with Nature will be located at the S.Project’s Pavilion 15, exhibiting a virtuous ecosystem that represents the future of home living. It will highlight topics such as circular economy and reuse, exploring the potential of cities as “reserves” of the future where raw materials used in construction could be sourced.

Beyond the Fiera Milano | Rho, designers, companies and universities will present architectural interventions, installations, and innovative solutions across the streets of Milan as part of the fuorisalone. This year's edition, titled "Between Space and Time", will reflect on the changes taking place in today's world, which are necessary to achieve the sustainability goals of tomorrow. The Fuorisalone 2022 programme includes the Brera Design Week, which features more than 160 events including exhibitions, installations, group shows and product novelties, as well as the return of Milano Durini Design, 5VIE Design Week and Isola Design District.

UNStudio, in collaboration with Fashion Research Italy Foundation will introduce the concept of the Future Perfect project, an ongoing investigation which aims to create a design collection of ‘(extra)ordinary objects’ at Salone del Mobile. Rather than recycling leftover products, the concept is to repurpose them by combining, overwriting and altering them in such a way that their original properties are respected. CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, in collaboration with Rhea and Italo Rota, will unveil a prototype of the Coffee Landscape, a reconfigurable installation that aims to rethink the experience of preparing and consuming coffee at the office. The design allows people to socialize around an expansive platform with reconfigurable seats arranged at different heights. Stefano Boeri Interiors is collaborating with retail company Timberland on "Floating Forest", a multi-sensory floating forest made as an independent ecosystem on the waters of the Viale Gabriele D'Annunzio, Darsena in Milan. Designed to convey new forms of environmental responsibility and transforming urbanized spaces, the installation offers a place of intersection and reconciliation between the natural sphere and human beings via 610 plants and 30 species.

Los Angeles-based design collective RIOS will exhibit Superbloom, a multisensorial installation that uses colors, scents, and sounds as a tribute to the natural and rare phenomenon of a superbloom. Natuzzi Italia is putting the spotlight on the protection of olive trees from the Xylella epidemic through the photographic exhibition TRE(E)PIDATION by Giampaolo Sgura and an installation titled Germogli by Marcantonio in the courtyard of Palazzo Durini Caproni di Taliedo adjacent to the flagship store. Nature Squared and ANOTHERVIEW are exhibiting VIEW 20, a limited edition custom architectural installation that reframes views of conceptual art, material design, nature, and travel. The canopy, handmade in handwoven abaca, rattan and gold yarn, pays homage to the elegant traditional tented structures of Rajasthan.

In addition to the installations and interventions, visitors will have the chance to see how architects diversified and immersed themselves in the worlds of interior, furniture, and lighting design, creating unique pieces in collaboration with international design brands. These collaborations include pieces by UNStudio, late Spanish architect Enric Miralles, and OMA, to name a few.