Fondazione Prada
OMA / Rem Koolhaas · Milan, Italy · 2015
Fondazione Prada is a contemporary art campus developed within a former industrial distillery in southern Milan and redesigned by OMA under the direction of Rem Koolhaas. Opened in 2015, the project combines restored historic industrial structures with highly contrasting new insertions, creating a layered environment that explores the relationship between preservation, art, and contemporary architecture. Existing warehouses and production buildings were carefully adapted into exhibition spaces, while new structures such as the Podium and Cinema introduce sharper geometries and modern materials. One of the most recognizable elements is the ‘Haunted House,’ a historic building clad in gold leaf that creates a surreal contrast within the industrial context. The campus avoids a singular monumental composition and instead operates as a sequence of spatial experiences connected through courtyards and circulation paths. Fondazione Prada has become one of Europe’s most important contemporary cultural institutions and a major example of adaptive reuse in contemporary architecture.