The Velasca Tower rises one hundred and six meters above the center of Milan with a distinct, mushroom-like profile. Its narrow base expands into a wider upper volume, a structural choice that echoes the medieval fortresses of the Lombard…
Postwar Milanese Design Showrooms
We trace the postwar evolution of modern industrial design through the legendary furniture showrooms and architectural landmarks of the 1950s and '60s.
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1. Velasca Tower
2. Palazzo Giò Ponti
The building you are approaching is the Palazzo Assolombarda, an office structure completed in nineteen sixty-two and designed by the celebrated architect Giò Ponti. You can identify it by its thoughtful, refined facade, which reflects the…
3. Showroom Danese Milano
Danese Milano began in nineteen fifty-seven as an experimental workshop founded by Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz. The brand became a landmark of Italian design by collaborating with artists and designers like Bruno Munari and Enzo Mari…
4. Museo del Novecento
The Museo del Novecento is distinguished by its home in the Palazzo dell'Arengario, a Rationalist building on the edge of the Piazza del Duomo identifiable by its imposing stone façade and the Arengario balcony. Designed in the nineteen…
5. Cassina Store Milano
The Cassina Store Milano on Via Durini is defined by a central, eight-meter-high cupola constructed from glass blocks. When the showroom first opened its doors on December eleventh, nineteen sixty-eight, this dome served as the focal point…
6. Flos Flagship Store Milano
The Flos Flagship Store occupies the ground floor of a building at number nine Corso Monforte, a structure designed by the Milanese architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni between nineteen sixty-three and nineteen sixty-six. The retail space…
7. De Padova Srl
De Padova began in nineteen fifty-six when Fernando and Maddalena De Padova opened a small showroom on Via Montenapoleone. At a time when Italian homes were largely filled with traditional, dark wood furniture, the couple introduced a…
8. Showroom Artemide Milano
The Artemide flagship showroom sits on Corso Monforte nineteen, a street known as a center for high-end design in Milan. Its clear glass frontage often reveals a revolving display of luminaires, including pieces recognized as icons of…
9. Vico Magistretti Foundation
The Vico Magistretti Foundation occupies the small, unassuming studio at the corner of Via Conservatorio and Via Vincenzo Bellini where the architect worked for over sixty years. Housed in a building his father, Pier Giulio Magistretti,…