On the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023, the Migliore+Servetto design studio has created the multimedia installation “Elevators” as part of Solferino 28, the branded Fuorisalone event by Corriere della Sera, Living e Abitare. An icon of Italian culture and information, for the first time in its history, the newspaper's elegant headquarters, located in the heart of Brera, is opening its doors to the public and becoming the stage for a scenographic installation that proposes a metaphorical journey about time and through time.
The narrative path unfurls in two steps, starting from the façade of the building in via Solferino 28 and arriving in the heart of Palazzo del Beltrami, to reflect on notions of design in the fields of cities, energy and sustainability. A multimedia reinterpretation of the façade animates the main entrance through digital projection/videomapping that presents some of the most iconic covers of Corriere della Sera, Living e Abitare, and introduces visitors to the central courtyard, which has been transformed into a ‘narrative piazza’ for the occasion. Here two time machines in the form of Elevators recount the metamorphosis of the relationship between time, objects and environments through insights dedicated to the history of Corriere della Sera in the first instance and to that of the Hyundai automotive construction brand in the second.
“The allegory we have chosen is that of the elevator: instead of physically moving from one place to another, guests will make accelerated and syncopated virtual journeys vertically, discovering objects and landscapes that form part of a temporal flow that contemplates past, present and future,” say architects Ico Migliore and Mara Servetto. In the centre of the courtyard, the two elevators act as scenic machines in the form of colourful translucent towers, enveloping the public with video installations inside in a memorable immersive experience composed of visual, sound and olfactory stimuli, where objects evolve, materials innovate, living spaces transform and cities expand.
The installation gives shape to a reflection on “time” and the ambivalent implications of the fourth dimension in our daily lives, as architects Ico Migliore and Mara Servetto point out: “We all have it but we never really own it: what does time mean within our daily lives? Is it a material part of the objects around us or a concept? The installation aims to answer some of these questions by exploring design in the fields of cities, energy and sustainability. This dialogue with the fourth dimension and with the concept of metamorphosis is inspired by Willy Wonka's glass elevator from the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
To round off the immersive experience, the installation also makes use of sound effects and olfactory diffusers with customised essences by Integra Fragrances. The presence of Hyundai is linked to the theme of smart mobility and the importance of “sustainable” travel over time, with a dedicated elevator and the new Ioniq 6 full electric coupe sedan. The public can also relax in the outdoor lounge set up by Cotto d'Este with floors and seats made of Kerlite, ultra-thin and sustainable 100% carbon neutral ceramic slabs. Between a tasting of Tuscan wines from the Ruffino wineries, a stop for an energy recharge in the smart E-Lounge benches set up by Repower and the innovative Zafferano lamps you can finally take advantage of a unique opportunity: exclusive guided tours of the Corriere della Sera (with limited number and by reservation only) to meet the voices that make the newspaper great and retrace its glorious history first hand.
The event will take place in Via Solferino 26 in Milan from 17 to 23 April from 11:00 - 21:00 (except on Sundays, when opening times are until 18:00).
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