At the heart of the Triennale di Milano lives Casa Lana, an intimate and visionary fragment of Ettore Sottsass's thinking. A permanent exhibition that tells a new idea of living, between form, color, and memory.
Casa Lana, designed by Ettore Sottsass in the Sixties, is a poetic statement on living. Now faithfully rebuilt in the Sottsass Room on the first floor of the Triennale Milano, thanks to the donation of Barbara Radice Sottsass, the work returns to converse with the present. A domestic wooden square, without corridors, where one moves around, meets, listens to music, dreams. A house that is also a thought, a way of seeing the world.
The setup was meticulously created thanks to the collaboration with Studio Sottsass, Christoph Radl, Luca Cipelletti, and the archive of Triennale Milano. Casa Lana presents itself as a room within a room, a structure that preserves and conveys the profound sense of the original project. Sottsass envisioned a protected, intimate space where beauty arises from the relationship between people, objects, and colors. Milan now hosts a true temporal device that spans decades while remaining surprisingly current.
Around Casa Lana, there is an exhibition cycle curated by Marco Sammicheli, which delves into major themes of Sottsass's work. From the exhibition Structure and Color - which explores the relationship between body and space - to the dialogue with technology and Olivetti in The Calculation, to the evocative power of words in the event The Word. A series of narratives that, show after show, build a multifaceted portrait of a visionary author.
Casa Lana is an invitation to reinterpret design as a gesture full of meaning. Its presence at the Triennale Milano testifies to the institution's commitment to valorize the masters of Italian architecture and design, promoting a culture of project that looks to the future through memory. A fund dedicated to Ettore Sottsass Jr, fueled by new donations, will safeguard his creative legacy, offering new ways of interpretation for future generations.
