Palazzo Ritta becomes a saturated area of activity
in Milan Design Week 2026Mosca Partners revitalizes Palazzo Ritta in Variations, transforming its Cortile d’Onore into a saturated habitable landscape. Ms. Lina Gottme Transformation in movement. of install It occupies the courtyard densely, pink A spatial system that instantly changes the way you read Baroque settings. of courtyard read as A dream-like field that changeswhere perception loosens and space is continually redefined through movement. Gottme frames this intervention as both a fragment and a performance, drawing on the history of palace ritual and space. “It’s a Baroque installation that plays with fragments, but it’s also about performance and all the ritual history that this palace has lived through.” She shares with designboom.
The installation is structured as a continuous surface of stairs, platforms, and partitions that guide the body through a loose maze. There is no single path or fixed hierarchy. Visitors cross, stop, sit and observe. Viewed from above, this layout appears as if the plan has become three-dimensional, the figure and ground have been reversed, and the circulation has thickened and taken shape. What initially appears graphic becomes spatially dense once occupied. The project is conceived as a space to slow down amidst the intensity of Design Week, introducing a different temporal rhythm. “It’s a place where you can spend time, a place where you can sit… It’s a whole labyrinth that allows for winding paths, each path leading you to discoveries and encounters.” Gotome tells us.
Pink intervention transforms Cortile d’Onore | All images by Nathalie Krag unless otherwise noted
Lina Gottme’s installation contrasts with historical seashells
This intense hot pink contrasts with the muted tones and symmetry of Palazzo Ritta. The columns, arcades and facades remain untouched, but the perception changes. This installation does not imitate or respect any historical context. It is imposed on it. Color sets the mood and makes a statement. “I wanted to bring warmth and softness to the architecture…shades of pink and red are the colors that make you feel surrounded by sunlight.” Lebanese-born architect Linan Gotme explains: It connects the palette to ideas of care, presence, and a more human-centered spatial experience.
Across Piano Nobile, 25 exhibitors are extending this idea of transformation beyond the courtyard. The theme of transformation is treated not as a story, but rather as a working condition. Projects move between materials research, manufacturing techniques, and speculative proposals, often falling somewhere between products, prototypes, and installations.
Platforms, steps and cutouts create a dense field of circulation and rest. Image provided by: Takumi Ota
An open system shaped through movement and occupation
MoscaPartners builds distributed experiences instead of linear sequences. The rooms communicate with each other without a strict hierarchical structure, reflecting the non-linear logic of the courtyard intervention. Visitors can construct their own routes and interpretations. This lack of prescription feels intentional, reinforcing the idea that today’s designs work through systems and relationships rather than isolated objects.
For Gotome, this openness is intentional. “I always like architecture that feels somehow unfinished (…) so that its pieces can still grow.” She told Designboom: The installation is constructed as a system that evolves through occupation.
Seen from above, the courtyard appears to be a maze-like composition between paintings and spaces. “There’s this idea of a dreamlike space between reality and something that has a surreal quality.” she added.
Ultimately, this project positions architecture as a shared, living process. “When I talk about transformation, I’m talking about the transformation of space through the use of people.” Gotme says the installation is based on collective experience, not just form.
Geometric volumes guide movement without prescribing a fixed route. Image provided by: Takumi Ota
The installation contrasts with Baroque columns and a sober façade. Image provided by: Takumi Ota
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