Responding to the challenge of designing a space for the launch of the Prada FW Menswear 2021 Collection by Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons, Rem Koolhaas and AMO have designed four connected geometric rooms that allow for the continuous circulation of the models showcasing their different garments. The general theme of the design centers sensory stimulation. Like the designs presented, the materials used and their distribution throughout the space speak of a more intimate connection with our surroundings, reminding us that fashion and architecture are more than just a functional container; they are an opportunity to actively excite and provoke our senses.
Rectangle, circle, square, and octagon: each interior presents its own abstract geometric conditions. The rectangular room is clad in red faux fur walls and a glossy black resin floor, reflecting the people, elements, and lighting. The dramatic circular room with its smooth, continuous white marble walls contrasts the fur texture of the floor, which creates a sky-like pattern as the fibers move in different directions. The square room then reverses these roles, bringing a subtly reflective green-veined marble to the floor and an expressive magenta skin to the four walls. Finally, the pastel and pink-hued octagon room use fur again on the floor, but this time, its walls are covered with plaster. Each room contrasts markedly with the next through what can be seen from the open doorways.
According to the show's organizers, 'Inviting and seductive, [the spaces] can pretend to be both interior and exterior, hard and soft, warm and cold: simultaneously both and neither, they allow absolute freedom of interpretation and expression.'
After the show, the materials used in this digital set will be recycled in other projects through Meta, a circular economy project based in Milan, and La Réserve des arts, an association that collects and recovers raw materials and waste from fashion shows and makes them available to professionals and students in the cultural sector.
Experience the Showspace in 3D, and check out other sets designed by AMO and other architects for Prada.
