Light and Cement at The Triennale In Readiness for Milan’s Furniture Fair

By Editorial Staff - 8 January 2010

The project - to be ready for the coming Furniture Fair - aims to create a completely open, functional space serving both garden and interior Fiat Café at Milan’s Triennale. Conceived as a slice of “urban design”, the reverberations from the worlds of fashion and design aim to make it a cool place in town. The apparently casual array of sinuous luminous seating in [Fibre C] set in front of a small pavilion in the Triennale grounds looks like a modern version of a primitive encampment. Geometric daises placed randomly among the benches can be used as tables during the inaugural party and then as further seating. Acting as a shield to the pavilion will be a gallery serving as a filter-corridor. The gallery panels will be in [Fibre C], also known as “concrete skin”, because it combines the properties of highly malleable, long-lasting decorative cement with the stability, low weight and thickness of non-flammable fibreglass. [Fibre C] reinstates fibre cement as a contemporary architecture envelope, the marble of the future. Inside, the atmosphere will be luminous and allusive. Floor lights will highlight the irregular finish of the panels. An exhibition area, it will contain small totems with samples of [Fibre C] products and video images of significant product applications. Benches, panels and flooring will create striking contrasts of material and colour: black lava stone will be set against soft white stone, light against dark, solid against void, matter against luminescence. Everything will be simplicity of form, precision of detailing and excellence of decoration. The key concept is design - whether of light or cement. Manufacturers and designers will come together to create an environment that takes on a new, more poetic dimension as night falls. With their special finishings and decorations (floral designs or micro-perforations), the panels become luxurious fabric. The lighting system too is an integral part of the whole project. It comprises basic...