News / 5/6/2024

Fuorisalone 2024 in Milan

Innovative materials, the design of shared spaces and sensorial stimuli were the main concepts behind the projects Mapei was involved in during the Milan Design Week

FuoriSalone 2024 in Milan confirmed itself as a reference point for professionals, students and design enthusiasts. During the event, various installations, exhibitions and meetings were presented. Sustainability and innovation were the highlights of the event, reflecting the contemporary evolution of urban and interior design. Let's take a closer look at Mapei's contribution to this year's edition.

This year’s Fuorisalone (Milan Design Week), which took place in Milan from 16^th -21^st April in conjunction with the Furniture Show, turned out once again to be an unmissable event for professionals, students, fans and numerous other people, who, just like every other year, crowded the streets and showrooms of districts like Brera, Cinque Vie and Tortona. Installations, exhibitions, meetings with designers and special openings were the main attractions of a packed schedule of events characterising one of the liveliest weeks in Milan.

Mapei at FuoriSalone 2024

A new model of street furniture

One of the most eagerly awaited events was, as always, the exhibition-event hosted by the magazine Interni in the courtyards of Milan State University. This year's theme was “Cross Vision”: the 40 installations created by 40 designers from 12 different nations focused on the interconnections and links between a variety of visions sharing the same basic design culture and universal principles of sustainability and safeguarding of the places we live in.

An event full of aesthetic and conceptual stimuli that Mapei was involved in as a partner of the “Sit Together” project presented by Topotek 1 architecture firm and MDT-Tex. This installation focused on themes of great importance to the architect Martin Rein-Cano, founder of Topotek 1, such as inclusion, sharing spaces and socialising, bringing them into interaction with such issues as the ecological crisis and climate change. The idea behind the project was to combine classic European-style seating with a traditional Persian wind tower to create a place capable of welcoming guests at any time of day or year and in any climate, thanks a design with both a warm and darker side and a cool and lighter side. This resulted in a striking structure with a tower with nebulisers at the top to cool the air by directing it downwards.

On 15th April, Mapei also organised a talk called "A conversation with Martin Rein-Cano", during which the architect talked with Grazia Signori (Architectural Stone Paving Line, Mapei SpA) about sustainability, social behaviour and landscape architecture.

Mapei interviews the architect Martin Rein-Cano

The installation “Sit Together” designed by Topotek 1.

Sensory experiences with Elle Decor

The Elle Decor Material Home installation in Palazzo Bovara in the heart of Milan paid tribute to matter, a sensorial journey focused on materials that investigated their relationship with space from a visual, olfactory and tactile viewpoint. An intriguing interior design project with materials showcased on the walls, furniture and even the design accessories. Seven separate rooms featured seven variations on the main theme in an immersive experience whose interior coatings were supplied by Mapei.

Mapei also supplied the interior paints for the “Spanish Apartment” set up in nearby Palazzo Castiglioni, an Art Nouveau palace in Milan city centre, where 18 Spanish design companies displayed their work. This resulted in an innovative concept representing new ways of inhabiting a home.

The wall coatings used in the Elle Decor Material Home installation in Palazzo Bovara and Palazzo Castiglioni included DURSILAC MATT water-based acrylic urethane enamel paint and DURSILITE GYPSOS water-based paint.

The first Dekton House in Italy

In the Milanese suburb of Corsico, Cosentino Italia (the Italian branch of the Spanish Group manufacturing innovative and high-tech design surfaces), presented the very first Dekton House, a detached house designed by the architect Alaa Negm showcasing the numerous applications of Dekton porcelain slabs made from a mixture of over 20 minerals taken from nature which has zero impact on the environment throughout its entire life cycle. Innovation, sustainability and high technical performance characterise the materials used for all premises, including the façades and floors in all the environments from kitchens and swimming pools. Spaces that are open, fluid and functional for a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle, where natural elements like greenery, water and light dialogue with the building materials.

Mapei waterproofing and installation products as well as its levelling and cleaning systems were used to create the various premises, together with shower systems manufactured by Profilpas, one of the Group’s subsidiaries.

A view of the first Dekton House in Italy, a detached house designed by the architect Alaa Negm showcasing the Dekton porcelain slabs. Numerous Mapei products were used to complete the building.

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#architecture

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