In Milan, Prada brings together boutiques, exhibition, art and hospitality inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The project organizes several degrees of access to the house’s history.
The underground passage is one of the most concrete elements of Prada Galleria. It connects the two sides of the central octagon of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where the women’s and men’s spaces face each other. Around this link, Prada presents an ensemble of eight levels devoted to retail, hospitality, art and its history.
Circulating Between Several Uses
The project brings together the enlarged boutiques, Marchesi 1824 and the Osservatorio Fondazione Prada. The permanent Pradasphere exhibition occupies the piano nobile. Added to these are floors of shopping by invitation and private hospitality. The address remains that of the Fratelli Prada store opened in 1913, but its functions multiply.
This organization proposes several ways of relating to the house. Looking at an exhibition, buying a piece, and being received by invitation call on neither the same time nor the same expectations. Their proximity can enrich the understanding of the place; it also requires making the transitions between these experiences intelligible.
History as Material for the Visit
The stakes go beyond adding a heritage backdrop to a commercial space. A permanent exhibition involves a selection: what is shown, how it is connected, and the room left for ruptures in the story of a company. The visitor may look there for elements to understand a creation, without that understanding necessarily having to lead to a purchase.
The official presentation documents the spaces and their articulation. It is not enough to assess the pace of a visit, the quality of the mediation, or the balance between public access and private welcome. It is on these uses that Prada Galleria will have to be judged: the richness of an address also depends on what each visitor can actually discover there.
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