For the Prada Fall Winter 2023 menswear show, AMO, OMA's research and design branch, has conceived a scenography that transforms the Deposito hall at Fondazione Prada while the audience is attending the show. As part of the show, the ceiling rises slowly, revealing imposing chandeliers that slowly illuminate the space and expose the industrial materiality of the hall. It then withdraws again to its initial position, creating a seamless transition between a dark-low ceiling room to a monumental space and back again.
This year’s Prada menswear collection by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons explores the fundamentals of fashion. Modernist principles of reduction and simplicity were combined with their apparent contradictions: comfort, exaggeration, and intimacy.
AMO aimed to integrate the same concepts in the design of the venue, exposing the concrete shell of the building while altering the scale of the hall. This shifting perspective is aimed at altering not only the perception of space but also the image of the garments, which mirror the space being either elongated or abbreviated.
The collaboration between OMA/AMO and Prada dates back to 2004. It has generated impactful displays where architecture is combined with high fashion, such as the Prada Transformer, an imaginative temporary structure erected in 2009 in Seoul, Korea. Throughout the years, the collaboration has also transformed the Deposito Hall at Foundation Prada, reimagined as a theatrical setting with olive-green theatre chairs and stage lighting in 2022, or as a sensory simulation experiment in 2021. ArchDaily has also compiled a list of exhibitions designed by OMA where they go beyond the limits of architectural design to experiment with elements of scenography and visual arts.
Swipe to see the video of the ceiling slowly rising to reveal the 3-meter-high chandeliers.
Project: Prada FW23 Menswear Show
Location: Fondazione Prada, Milan
Partner: Rem Koolhaas
Associate: Giulio Margheri
Team: Alex Tintea, Luisa Carvalho, Laura Martinelli
