How Does Architecture and Design Shape Collective Experience?
By centering spaces often overlooked as backdrops, we explore how built environments shape cultural events as much as what happens within them.
For Milan Design Week on the 19 - 26th April, we’ll be taking over Dropcity in Milan with a free programme delving into the role of architecture and design in cultural event spaces. With a panel talk, presentation and exhibition, The Design of Collective Experience reframes the built environments often considered peripheral to architectural discourse, platforming studios pioneering new approaches that break from convention.
We’ll be featuring those behind work that includes the scaffolded Radar stage that doubles as a multi-storey viewing space at Amsterdam’s Dekmantel, transforming the historic rotunda of Paris’ Bourse de Commerce for an immersive 360-deg Arca performance, and a floating viewing tower atop of a lake at Portugal's Waking Life - alongside many more.
Our programme comes in collaboration with Dropcity, a cavernous venue underneath Milan’s Central Station. Find our full events listing throughout Milan Design Week below:
DROPCITY
Via Sammartini 40, Milan
1
Exhibition: The Design of Collective Experience
19-26 April (free entry)
Featuring photography and drawings from forward-thinking studios including Tom Schneider, Matière Noire, Erased Studio, badweather, Lumus Instruments, Inter Agency, Studio Raito, Cake Architecture and more.
With project imagery, conceptual storyboarding and design documentation, this exhibition details the thought process and meticulous detail behind each work, from nightclub dance floors and festival stages to art installations and performance.
2
Presentation: Club Culture / Transient Space / Value of Architecture?
21 April 18:30-19:30 (free entry)
A presentation by CAKE Architecture Creative Director, Hugh Scott Moncrieff, exploring how projects rooted in rave culture and temporary structures function as sites of cultural production and experimental design, and foster gathering, exchange and shared experience.
3
Panel & DJ Set: The Design of Collective Experience
April 24 18:00–21:00 (free entry)
Hosted by creative director Kazeem Kuteyi (All Corners/Trippin), with speakers Felix Ward (Matière Noire), Kristian Kirk (Inter Agency) and Francesca Lantieri (2050+), this panel brings together those on the forefront of experiential spaces, examining how contemporary scenography and spatial design of temporary environments shape the way we collectively experience culture.
The panel will be followed by a DJ set by Blenk.
