米兰 Triennale 设计博物馆展示 Ettore Sottsass 的紧凑公寓设计

Triennale Design Museum presents Casa Lana, a new acquisition that faithfully reconstructs an apartment interior originally conceived by Ettore Sottsass in 1965

Now permanently reproduced within Milan’s Triennale Design Museum, Ettore Sottsass’ Casa Lana is a compact apartment made up of ’rooms within a room’, and is now visible to the public on the museum’s first floor

Designed in 1965 by Ettore Sottsass for his friend, the lithographer and printer Giovanni Lana, Casa Lana in Milan is the latest acquisition for the permanent collection of the Triennale di Milano. The cultural institution’s recent wave of acquisitions, arranged by its new design, fashion and crafts curator Marco Sammicheli, features some real gems by a host of Italian designers, including Carlo Mollino, Joe Colombo and Vico Magistretti.

Casa Lana at Triennale Design Museum

‘The opportunity to secure Casa Lana came to us thanks to the Lana heirs and to the generosity of the Ettore Sottsass Archive,’ says Sammicheli. ‘We could not miss this opportunity due to the extraordinary integrity of the apartment. It is as if Casa Lana was frozen in time, precisely as the architect designed it. This allows us to present a project in its totality, integrity and strength.’

Giovanni Lana did not have much of a budget when he commissioned Sottsass, but the friends came to an agreement, and the resulting compact apartment epitomises the Italian architect’s pioneering approach to design.

Pioneering interior design by Ettore Sottsass

A a study area with desks and fold-down furniture

Packed full of clever spatial tricks and brilliantly executed, Casa Lana neatly demonstrates how some past issues remain significant today, and offers up unexpected solutions in terms of lifestyle, materiality and small-space living. It comprises a tight sequence of zones, or ‘rooms within a room’, dedicated to different functions. To save space, Sottsass eliminated corridors and emphasised the idea that all spaces have been conceived to be part of a whole. The combination of art and architecture is apparent in the different colours and materials that help define the various functions of each specific zone.

‘Today, Triennale di Milano gives the world an extraordinary surprise: the faithful reconstruction of part of Casa Lana by Ettore Sottsass, that Triennale took apart and philologically reassembled thanks to the collaboration of Iskra Grisogono from the Sottsass archive, and the dialogue with the original owner’s family,’ comments Triennale president, architect Stefano Boeri. ‘From today, Milan hosts a veritable time machine, created by one of the geniuses of 20th century design.’

Adds Sammicheli: ‘The fact that Sottsass’ footsteps are still present in the original furniture is astonishing for us. That’s what makes this apartment exceptional.’ §

A corridor in the apartment. All the elements of the design were created to fit into the compact space with storage solutions such as the built-in cupboards lining the corridor

The living room features a boxed-off seating area with three ‘Califfo’ sofas, designed by Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova

Detail of the built-in storage in the living room

Bespoke shelving and wood panelling covering a radiator

A view of the living room from the built-in dining table

Sottsass’ ‘Califfo’ sofa for Poltronova

A detail of the bespoke woodwork

Living room and dining area

Corner of the apartment looking through the study area

Among the bespoke furniture is this foldable desk

Information Casa Lana is on view at Triennale Design Museum triennale.org

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