Artist Franco Mazzucchelli, known since the 1960s for creating inflatable PVC sculptures, often displayed in urban and natural spaces or on bodies of water, returns to Milan. The artist returns to Milan with “Aria, terra, acqua”, curated by Marina Pugliese and Alessandro Oldani with the collaboration of Gianmarco Cugusi. The exhibition project includes the installation of two works. In the garden of Triennale Milano, Mazzucchelli intervenes with an installation titled “Aperta parentesi”, where two large arches fixed to the ground allude to a round parenthesis, a spatial break that delimits a selection of the artist's iconic inflatables. The second installation is “Elica”, an inflatable sculpture placed on the Darsena dei Navigli.

Italian architects Italo Rota and Carlo Ratti will create an installation for this year's edition for energy company Eni entitled Walk the Talk - Moving Energy. The exhibition reflects the off-site theme Future Laboratory and explores the development of mobility. The installation consists of hundreds of tiles that create an interactive path through the avenues of the Brera Botanical Garden, using light and sound to transform the garden depending on the time of day. Developed in collaboration with game designer collective Blob Factory Gaming Studio, Walk the Talk addresses issues such as the transformation of mobility in a sustainable sense.

Michele de Lucchi and his firm AMDL Circle are proposing a floating promenade on Milan's Darsena for Azimut Yachts. Called The Sea Deck, the floating architecture is designed to welcome visitors during the week, designing it to “bring back the experience of ancient navigable waterways to the city of Milan.” The deck is made from recycled and ground bottle caps and was created to celebrate Azimut Yachts' Seadeck series of hybrid motor yachts.

Italian designer Gaetano Pesce’s collaboration with the fashion brand Bottega Veneta is back for the third trime, after two encounters during Milan Fashion Week 2022 and the latest Design Miami/ event. Together, they are creating an immersive installation for the Milan showroom for Design Week. Made of resin and fabric, it was designed by Pesce to resemble a narrow cave and will frame a collection of bags, based on Pesce’s own designs: they will depict mountains with sunrise or sunset behind them.

Dutch materials brand SolidNature presents at Spazio Cernaia in the Brera Design District - in its garden and basement level - an installation designed by Ellen Van Loon and Giulio Margheri of the Rotterdam-based architecture firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). As part of a group exhibition along with works by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis and Iranian artist Bita Fayyazi, “Beyond the Surface” is immersive dreamscape designed as a parallel between the birth and mining of natural stone and the realization of dreams. Within the exhibition, visitors can discover the history of the geological formation of stone, from the metamorphosis of the earth to the high-tech stone finishing machinery used today.

In the courtyard of Spazio Maiocchi, Lausanne-based design studio Panter & Tourron presents an urban architectural installation for Xl Extralight. A project that started with a creative reinterpretation of the company's new Organix 3.0 material, the designers, known for their work at the intersection of technology and society, conceived a pseudo-domestic interior: part conversation pit, part public stage. The pyramidal monolith invites users to sit and relax on the low bench bordering the perimeter or in the hollowed-out central section, complete with built-in seating.

An immersive, multi-sensory experience in the courtyard of the celebrated Pinacoteca. Named “Health Through Water”, the installation will reflect through water mirrors the stunning architecture, while four immersive cubes reveal the brand's bathroom designs.

Lighting manufacturer Ingo Maurer, founded by the late great industrial designer, will offer a fascinating outdoor light installation at Porta Nuova, Caselli 11-12, as new products are unveiled in the buildings of the old city gate. The installation creates an impressive symbiosis of (light) art and architecture, demonstrating Ingo Maurer's ability to move with ease from traditional lighting concepts to experimental and innovative set-ups.

Biodesign workshop Atelier Luma presents an exhibition featuring five large installations and experimental objects at the Alcova space, now housed this year by the former Porta Vittoria slaughterhouse on Molise Street. The installations are made from agricultural byproducts, seaweed, rice straw, salt and textiles, while the objects are created from building materials, textiles, palm sheaths and plant-based shoes. This year the Alcova design fair returns to Milan for its fifth edition, presenting more than 70 projects from international brands and studios.

Among the many installations that will populate the busy University of Milan during this Design Week, we highlight the “Macchina Impossibile”, designed by Piero Lissoni. A project created for Sanlorenzo, it tells the story of the future of yacht propulsion. The installation, conceived to tell the story of the search for ever new technological solutions to the problems related to the environmental impact of yachting, consists of an imposing metal structure, with attention to every detail. With its large propellers and serrated wheels in motion and thanks to a backlighting system, it draws the viewer's attention to the hydrogen system with which it is powered.