During Milan Design Week 2026, Heidelberg Materials presented Cemento Vivo, a project developed together with the architecture platform Urbanfile to investigate the role of concrete in shaping the contemporary urban landscape.
Hosted at Monte Rosa 91 – the Milan business complex redeveloped through a project by Renzo Piano – the exhibition featured thirteen black-and-white photographs by Davide Canella, taken between Milan and Bari, two cities with different morphologies and urban stratifications yet united by the decisive presence of concrete in their architectural and infrastructural development.
A distinctive element of the project was the decision to transfer the images onto panels coated with white microcement, transforming the material not only into the subject of the narrative but also into an integral part of the exhibition process. Microcement thus assumed a dual function: a technical support for printing and a surface capable of highlighting textures, porosity and the way the material reacts to light.
The experimentation enhanced the know-how of Heidelberg Materials Italia in the research of advanced cement systems, demonstrating the application potential of the material also in non-structural and cultural contexts. Concrete therefore became both a narrative element and a sensitive surface, in continuous dialogue with photography and architecture. Through the use of a large-format view camera and analogue photography, Davide Canella developed a slow and rigorous approach, capable of interpreting concrete as the structural backbone of the city.
Facades, pylons, bridges and religious architectures were observed as connecting elements between urban space, human presence and collective memory. Milan and Bari emerged as two complementary urban laboratories: on one side, the verticalisation and complexity of the Lombard capital; on the other, the dialogue between concrete and historic materials such as tuff stone in the Adriatic city.
In both contexts, concrete revealed itself as an element of continuity, capable of adapting to different languages, eras and functions while accompanying the evolution of the contemporary landscape.
Photos @Davide Canella
