“Where Architects Live” Exhibition at Salone del Mobile // Milan 2014.

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas’ home. Photo by Aki Furudate.

Oh my goodness. Press releases for this year’s Salone del Mobile have already begun, and I am officially starting to get excited about our annual trip to the Design Capital of the world – Milano. Hooray!

This year’s premier design event will be hosting a very special exhibition titled “Where Architects Live”. The exhibition will provide a unique peek inside the homes of serious design royalty – think Zaha, Libeskind, Chipperfield, Shigeru Ban etc. I know what you’re thinking – they really should have called it “Where STARchitects Live”.

As much as it would’ve been really fun to see mediocre furniture and average homes (the reality of many designers and architects I know), I hate to disappoint you – these houses are pretty sexy. No popcorn ceilings, Ikea desks, stained rugs and hand-me-down sofas to be seen here. No sir. It’s all pretty dandy in the land(y) of rockstar architects. Let’s take a closer look.

See our coverage of Milan Design Week 2013.

MASSIMILIANO & DORIANA FUKSAS.

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas’ home. Photos by Aki Furudate.

Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas portrait © Maurizio Marcato.

A table, a window, a royal square, statues and horses. In Paris, Place des Vosges, Doriana and Massimiliano Fuksas’s home. Original Jean Prouvé furniture, and masses of artworks, from Fontana to Paladino. On the threshold, antique warriors stand guard over the house and protect it, like custodians awaiting the return of its travelling architects.

DAVID CHIPPERFIELD.

David Chipperfield’s Home & Studio. Photos by Ute Zscharnt.

David Chipperfield’s portrait © Ingrid von Kruse.

First his studio, then his home. David Chipperfield chose Berlin, after the city commissioned him to rebuild the Neues Museum in 1997. It is in the same neighbourhood, Mitte. In the courtyard that contains both his house and his studio, Chipperfield also designed a canteen, a place where locals meet. The house is built of concrete, with large windows overlooking the street and the courtyard. It contains a few ‘50s and ‘60s Italian furnishings, and two colours. The green of a velvet sofa and the orange of a bookcase that divides the space between the kitchen and the sitting room.

ZAHA HADID.

Zaha Hadid’s home. Photos by Davide Pizzigoni. 

Zaha Hadid’s portrait © Brigitte Lacombe.

Zaha describes herself as a gypsy, of no fixed abode. Her memories lie in her childhood home in Baghdad, but she now lives in an open space in London, as dazzling as her smile. Light filters in from a skylight, flooding the space, even on rainy day. Some of her early designs, inspired by the revolutionary Russian artist El Lissitzky, hang on the walls. Then there is a multitude of portraits, pieces of furniture and objects, shapes that define the space, marking out a new avant-garde, Zaha Hadid’s style.

DANIEL LIBESKIND.

Daniel Libeskind’s home. Photos by Nicola Tranquillino.

Daniel Libeskind portrait © Michael Klinkhamer.

After travelling the world, from Poland to Tel Aviv, from the Bronx to Berlin, by way of Milan and Detroit, Daniel chose New York as his home. Tribeca is just a hop and a skip from Ground Zero. His house is a refuge. Books, books and more books. Brushes for mapping new worlds. And a table, with red legs and a granite top, built when there was less history to cart about, which has followed the family throughout its lengthy journey to Manhattan.

SHIGERU BAN.

Shigeru Ban’s home. Photos by Hiroyuki Hirai.

Shigeru Ban. Photo courtesy of Salone del Mobile.

Hanegi Forest – architecture among trees, designed by Shigeru Ban in 2007. The challenge was to avoid pulling down a single tree in the forest and to build a house around them. Shigeru Ban’s home is in this building, which stands immobile in a tranquil Tokyo district. A round table, a Terragni chair, a Greek face and masses of light. Nothing else, a Zen monk’s room.

MARIO BELLINI.

Mario Bellini. Photos by Davide Pizzigoni.

Mario Bellini loves Milanese urban culture, the city. His home, in a C19th building reworked by Piero Portaluppi, is designed around a large 9 metre tall library/staircase, which runs through and across it like a telescope. The books, artworks and objects make it reminiscent of Antonello da Messina’s painting of St. Jerome’s study. He is about to embark on a design for a white cube, his new home. That is his dream.

MARCIO KOGAN.

Marcio Kogan/ StudioMK27. Photos by Romulo Fialdini.

Marcio Kogan’s house shoots up towards the sky, reflecting the bright, free spaces of Brazil. He designed the building, his first winning competition entry in 1980; his home is on the 12th floor. A window frames the view over the city, like a huge panoramic screen, for an architect who dreamt of the cinema. The space is full of works, signed pieces, ornaments, travel souvenirs. Kogan remembers the story of each one of then and how they got here. A nightmare for the memory.

BIJOY JAIN/ STUDIO MUMBAI.

Bijoy Jain/ Studio Mumbai. Photos by Francesca Molteni.

A village, a community, where Bijoy Jain lives and works with 60 craftsmen. This is Studio Mumbai. His home belongs to all, immersed in the Indian countryside at Alibag, 30 km from the centre of Mumbai. A large swimming pool set amid ancient trees and a great many dogs. The reading room, designed by Bijoy to capture the lights and shadows of the day, reflects the atmosphere of a meditation space.

[Words about architect’s homes by Francesca Molteni. Photography credits as noted.]