Is it really possible to think about cities in a new way? Mario Cucinella Architects responds to this in the historic Corriere della Sera courtyard by creating a ‘new’ city made of wooden fruit crates. At the end of the week, this ecosystem will be deconstructed and the crates will return to their original function.

As a result, the new city becomes a mine, an example of the concept of circularity in architecture, which is highly dependent on the creative process.

Architecture aficionados will also be able to explore the stunning Art Nouveau Corriere della Sera edifice, designed by Luca Beltrami, through one of the many available guided tours.

Free entry.

This year, the Brera Botanical Gardens, one of the Design Week go-to locations, will be the main stage for INTERNI Cross vision - SunRICE - La ricetta della felicità, where the worlds of food, energy, nature and architecture intersect, creating a fascinating and innovative installation.

This project, created by Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota, begins with a simple traditional element - rice - and combines reflections on the key themes of health, well-being, skills and training, tradition and innovation. With the contribution of the starred Chef Niko Romito, visitors will be able to delve into an experiential journey in which the versatility and innovative use of the rice plant enables it to be transformed into raw material for radically sustainable architecture.

Free entry.

As per tradition, Eataly Milano Smeraldo will also host the INTERNI CROSS VISION exhibition: this year’s installation by Giulio Cappellini is entitled Food, Design, Happiness. Art, architecture and design fuse with natural elements against a theatrical backdrop that highlights the amazing qualities of everyday foods.

Join in for a celebration of food in its most essential and colourful image, as a source of joy and serenity.

Free entry.

Another unmissable experience at Brera for Design Week 2024 will be glo for art. This immersive installation is created by Emiliano Ponzi, one of the most renowned illustrators on the national and international scene who has worked for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Einaudi, Feltrinelli and the MOMA in New York.

Flower Up is a unique and site-specific work, in which the visitor enters a portal to travel through an immersive and technological tunnel surrounded by an explosion of colours and floating petals. This leads to the garden of wonders with a path of petals and a large tree-sculpture which, like all Ponzi's works, is utterly captivating.

Contemporary design cannot but reflect on inclusion: Diwergo's installation, showcased in front of the Santa Maria Incoronata church, is dedicated precisely to this important topic.

Five different seats are positioned in oases that can be configured depending on what their purpose is and who sits there, so as to be accessible to everyone and anyone.

Aphorisms by the author Antonio Giuseppe Malafarina - which are also readable for the visually impaired or dyslexic persons - are suspended from the backrests of the seats to raise awareness on the theme of inclusion.

Casa degli Artisti shines a spotlight on Swiss design by bringing together designers, studios, universities, brands and galleries with a particular focus on young talent. The key themes of the exhibition will be circularity, well-being and the connection with nature, in addition to a unique interpretation of how joy can be a product of ingenuity.

Free entry.

An installation that focuses on the new interpretation of the materials and aesthetics of Cupra, a Volkswagen brand, is at the heart of The Rebel Side of Design, an exhibition path that showcases sustainability, technology and design.

An immersive ‘phygital’ journey into the present and future made possible by virtual reality.

Free entry.

The newsstand in the Brera district is transformed into a design hub for a week, testifying to the potential of rethinking ordinary spaces for extraordinary purposes.

PAPER WORLDS, the installation designed by Alessandra Covini and Giovanni Bellotti of Studio Ossidiana, inspired by the new Nespresso collection of compostable paper-based capsules, transforms the newsstand into a magic box, where paper becomes a new opportunity for sustainability and a work of genius. Discover the spaces where it is possible to experience the collection through an interaction with the work and an insight into the evolution and transformation of the capsules, which become sap for the generation of new green areas.

Free access.

A project that will definitely provoke conversation: the NOT COMPROMISED exhibition at the Liceo Classico Parini presents limited editions of artworks from Thailand, which invite visitors to challenge traditional perceptions through videos and projects that promote inclusiveness and sustainability.

On display is the Elephant Footprint Seat, a collection of outdoor furniture commissioned from architect Boonserm Premthada, created using primarily elephant droppings. Each seat is, obviously, unique and provides an element of humour, as it is manufactured using the organic waste of a single elephant, documented with an ID card!

Premthada aims to direct us towards a world in which human existence contributes to preservation rather than degradation, promoting education and public dialogue as a means to advance the practice of the arts.

Free entry.

During the Milano Design Week, Insula delle Rose will host a large installation which demonstrates how three creatures have suffered as a result of the increasing progress of urbanization. Their tails reduced to electric cables, their limbs to scaffolding, their bodies to uncomfortable wooden cells upon which fragmented images stand out.

Especially curious visitors can delve into the creatures’ wombs and thus transport themselves into unconventional dimensions.

Free entry.