Design Variations 2024, overlooking the Darsena

This year, Design Variations will be held in a former garage from the 1940s, a space with a brutalist soul which, from Viale Gorizia, overlooks the south-west side of the Darsena. The garage, part of a building designed by Marco Zanuso, is a large space on two levels with a structure inspired by the pioneering architecture of Pier Luigi Nervi.


© Design Variations

For the first time it opens its doors during the Fuorisalone, to welcome the mix of poetic innovation and rigorous design that Moscapartners has selected and triggered for the Milan Design Week for more than ten editions.
Read more about the new location here

The exhibition project for Design Variations 2024 was entrusted to Park Associati, while the artist and designer Nathalie Du Pasquier imagined a special site-specific project entitled Corridor.

Inside the garage, many brands and works by designers of different nature will be exhibited, including Luigi Iacucci, One to One with Stellar Works con Neri&Hu, Michele De Lucchi, Studio Stefan Scholten, Space Copenhagen e BassamFellows; Woak con Constance Guisset, DWA, Marta Ayala Herrera, /àr-o/ studio, Zaven and many others.


© Corridoio - Nathalie Du Pasquier

The corridor by Nathalier Du Pasquier
This year's introduction to the world of Design Variations will be the large site-specific work by Nathalie Du Pasquier, a corridor at the entrance to the former garage composed of twelve large decorative panels printed on MEG, a versatile material designed for the outdoor, resistant to light and weather, suitable for the construction sector and produced by Abet Laminati, partner of the project.


© Corridoio - Nathalie Du Pasquier

The work, strongly linked to the specificities of the place, will create a tunnel with a strong graphic component and bright color contrasts and will accompany the visitor in an imaginary world.
In continuity with the experiences of previous editions, the work will not be limited to Milan Design Week, but will have a second life in order to guarantee the continuity and diffusion of art through sustainable projects.


© Hemp Scape by Park Associati

HEMP_SCAPE by Park Associati
The installation of this edition of Design Variations, designed by the Park Associati architecture studio, will have hemp as its protagonist. At the center of HEMP_SCAPE there will therefore be the creation of a scenography of hemp cement bricks which designs in a modular way the indoor area of the three large spaces, measuring approximately 2,500 square meters in total.


© Hemp Scape by Park Associati

“With a view to emphasizing the need for responsible, low-impact ethical architecture, the HEMP_SCAPE project is an opportunity to shine the spotlight on issues of urban mining and bio-based materials that our Park Plus research team is carrying on for years. Attention to the intelligent reuse of building materials and therefore to the circular economy is the focus of this exhibition project, in which only hemp bricks are used. At the end of the event, all of the material used will be put back on the market to be reused thanks to a completely dry assembly which allows for rapid construction and de-construction, with Zero Impact on the environment" says Filippo Pagliani, partner and co-founder of Park Associates.


© Hemp Scape by Park Associati

The solution, effective and conscious, allows the creation of fluid and flexible architectural elements with a strong visual impact that interact well with the original spaces of pure industrial archeology made up of large windows, large volumes and heights exceeding 7 metres. The arrangement in curved or linear curtains allows you to create clearly visible independent functional environments and at the same time maintain the overall identity of the installation.
Content and container integrate to create an event with attention to every detail that allows Design Variations participants to emerge in an architectural context that enhances them and at the same time integrates them in a synergistic way.


© Hemp Scape by Park Associati

Hemp bricks, chosen as the key material for the project, have excellent heat-insulating and sound-absorbing properties. Low-emission manufacturing contributes to a reduced environmental impact, providing a practical and sustainable solution for temporary architecture. Finally, the ease of assembly and disassembly allows it to be reused at the end of the event, minimizing waste production. The outdoor area, maintaining the typical atmosphere of industrial archaeology, is transformed into a relaxing agora: a hospitality area with bar and seats offers visitors the opportunity to take a break immersed in a contemporary urban garden. In collaboration with the Danish company Kvadrat, Park Associati designs a poetic installation that focuses on the use of fabrics recovered from waste from their production and, thanks to the support of the Fratelli Leonelli nursery, the green areas also design relaxation corners with plants and shrubs locals. In the exhibition project the concept of temporariness is converted into a vision of circularity, proposing a cradle-to-cradle approach in which the end of the life of a structure or material does not imply simple waste, but represents a potential resource for the future.