Since April 2018, Fondazione Prada has added a new building to its complex in Milano; we are talking about The Tower: with its nine floors it hosts the permanent collection of the contemporary art foundation and a gorgeous restaurant with a rooftop panoramic terrace. The Tower is a white concrete geometrical architecture, with a height of 60 meters and some irregularities that cause its shape to change when viewed from different angles. The new building, as well the whole Fondazione, has been designed by OMA, the renowned architecture-studio led by Rem Koolhaas.

The new gallery tower can be defined as the “Torre Velasca of contemporary art”: together with its (g)old sister (the Gold Tower) it has made Largo Isarco the centre of urban renaissance in Milano for the last few years. The new tower is a postmodern architecture and a six-floor new exhibition area, where the permanent collection of Fondazione Prada has found a new home. This permanent exhibition project is named Atlas and is born from a fertile dialogue between Miuccia Prada and curator Germano Celant.

A lot of these artworks can undoubtedly be considered instagram-friendly, like the immersive installation full of upside-down mushrooms by Carsten Höller, as well as the stainless steel multicolor tulips by Jeff Koons and the minimalist, science-fictional cubes created by Damien Hirst. All the exhibited artworks have been created from 1960 to 2016: the collection also includes artworks from artists such as Carla Accardi, Walter De Maria, Pino Pascali, William N. Copley and John Baldessari, among many others. Poor Art and Kitsch art have here the opportunity to connect, within the frame of a striking architectural space.

From the panoramic, triangle-shaped terrace outside Ristorante Torre, on the top floor, great pictures of the Milano skyline can be taken. The restaurant is furnished with authentic pieces from New York’s Four Seasons Restaurant, designed by Philip Johnson in 1958 and, in addition to ceramics by Lucio Fontana, its walls are covered with Artists’ Plates by John Baldessari, Thomas Demand, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Francesco Vezzoli and many others. Ristorante Torre offers at the same time a high-level food experience and a cultural one. The last surprise of this building is in the panoramic elevator that moves through the tower like a translucent marble space shuttle.