Designed by architects Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi of the OBR studio, the Artemide pavilion presented at Euroluce is much more than a simple exhibition space: it is an architectural device that explores the relationship between light and architecture, establishing a polyphonic dialogue between authors, visions, and disciplines.
Conceived as a space for dialogue and exchange, the pavilion hosts a multi-voice conversation among major figures of the international architectural scene—from BIG, Arup, Herzog & de Meuron, Carlo Colombo, and Giulia Foscari, to Foster + Partners Industrial Design, Michele De Lucchi, Carlotta de Bevilacqua, and many others. The goal was to create an architecture of relationships, where light acts as a relational material, animating the dialogue between humans and the environment.
Inspired by the Roman domus, with a central impluvium around which the authors’ spaces are arranged, the pavilion is structured through an orthogonal geometry that opens the space outward, making it fluid and accessible from all directions. Cuts and fractures in the structure break the monolithic continuity of the enclosure, allowing for a porous perception of the built environment.
An exception to this rational layout is a curved oval room, which pays tribute to Artemide’s legendary design masters: Gae Aulenti, Ernesto Gismondi, Vico Magistretti, and Ettore Sottsass.
At the heart of the pavilion, the impluvium becomes a vegetal oasis inspired by Piet Oudolf, where native plants grow in spontaneous harmony. Light is the structuring principle, the invisible guide of the entire project.
Yet the experience does not end at the fair: Artemide is launching a plant reuse and urban regeneration initiative in the area of Pregnana Milanese, transforming the temporary installation into a permanent public work.
The pavilion itself is designed as a reconfigurable modular system, meant to be dismantled, adapted, and reused, in line with the principles of the circular economy. Wood and fiberglass become flexible materials ready to take on new forms—offering a replicable model of responsible architecture.
For more information: www.obr.eu
