Triennale Milano pays Tribute to Ettore Sottsass with Permanent Display of Casa Lana.

After a major monographic exhibition dedicated to Ettore Sottsass in 2017, Triennale Milano opens Sala Sottsass—the reconstruction and permanent display of an interior of Casa Lana, a private residence designed by Sottsass in the mid-1960s in Milan. A series of exhibitions and events, highlighting different aspects of the great master’s works and ideas, are also programmed around this permanent display.

“Triennale Milano is giving the world a wonderful surprise: the faithful reconstruction of a part of Ettore Sottsass’s Casa Lana, a ‘room within a room’ that Triennale has dismantled and reassembled exactly as it was, thanks to the assistance of Iskra Grisogono of Studio Sottsass and to conversations with the family of the original owner,” says Stefano Boeri, President of Triennale Milano. “Milan is now home to an authentic time machine, created by one of the international geniuses of the twentieth century.”

The central area of Casa Lana consists of a wooden structure with sofas arranged to form a protected place to sit and chat, or listen to music, while the space around can be used for various activities. The spaces are optimised because, by eliminating the corridors, “a little piazza is created, where one can move and meet”, as Ettore Sottsass himself described in an article published by Domus in 1967.

The layout of the Sala Sottsass and its faithful reconstruction are the outcome of a meticulous study by the Triennale Milano archive and restoration centre, which saw the participation of Luca Cipelletti, among others.

The display is accompanied by a series of exhibitions curated by Marco Sammicheli with installation design and graphics by Christoph Radl. Sammicheli, Director of the Triennale Milano Museo del Design Italiano says: “Starting from the narrative ideas of Casa Lana, we thought up a series of exhibitions that would examine some of the major themes of the great master’s work.”

Related: A Tribute to Saul Steinberg at Triennale Milano.

[Images courtesy of Triennale Milano.]