Fondazione Prada gears up towards the opening of its new OMA-designed home

Announcing its much-awaited expansion, the Fondazione Prada will, from this May, compliment its beautiful 18th century palazzo in Venice with a brand new space in Milan by distinguished architecture superfirm OMA, headed by Rem Koolhaas.

Exploring architectural typologies linked to the display of art, the architects worked with a combination of new and existing buildings. The site, formerly a distillery dating back to the 1910s, is located in the Largo Isarco area in the city's south. The complex includes a dedicated children's space designed by a group of students from the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles, a bar created by director Wes Anderson, and an extremely generous 11,000 sq m of exhibition space.

Both the Venice and Milan locations will operate in conjunction, celebrating the opening with two thematically linked ancient art exhibitions curated by Salvatore Settis in collaboration with Anna Anguissola and Davide Gasparotto - 'Serial Classic' in Milan and 'Portable Classic' in Venice. The festive launch events will also include site-specific installations by Robert Gober and Thomas Demand, and screenings and a new documentary by Roman Polanski.