Osservatorio is Fondazione Prada’s centre devoted to visual experimentation and research focused on potential intersections and collisions between technologies and cultural expressions. It is a free-thinking platform open to reflection on various artistic and media languages and their impact in an ever-changing political and social landscape.
Extending across the fifth and sixth floors of one of the main buildings of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Osservatorio is located above the central octagon, at the level of the glass and iron dome that covers the arcades, realized by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1867. The spaces, rebuilt after the Second World War after downtown Milan was bombed in 1943, have now been fully restored, providing an 800-square-meter exhibition space that develops across two levels.
The restoration project allowed to preserve all vertical supporting concrete structures, as well as all wood and brick attics, bolstered with iron supports. The floors have been realized employing the wood from the original flooring, whereas all façades overlooking the dome of the Galleria are wide glass windows.