ARCAdi, by Ico Migliore, Mara Servetto and Italo Lupi, is the winning project of the contest “Exhibiting Compasso d’oro” organized by ADI for the project of the new location in Milan that will host the historical collection of Compasso d’Oro awarded objects since 1954.

The project selected by the jury (Cino Zucchi- president, Luisa Bocchietto, Giovanni Cutolo, Michele De Lucchi, Arturo Dell’Acqua Bellavitis, Mario Mastropietro, Enrico Morteo) offers a complete vision of the collection through the construction of a design “landscape” with several views, that can be implemented and changed with time.
In the project all the pieces of the collection are visible and allow the visitor to make a ross trip in the world of design. A flexible project designed for a variable density, that can change in time, with the awarding of other prices. A light sign that identifies with a sort of great “archive chest of drawers” the constant and flexible trait that supports and narrates.
Conceived according to the principles of a permanent and not temporary exhibition, the project is contaminated by a series of multimodal tools to offer a variety of reading plans, of narration and paths, inside memorable and impressive different perspectives.
In the central part a 25 metres-long table, divided in 4 segments, underlines with the strength of a sign the longitudinal pace of the aisle and defines an important narrative place to acquire and share information and knowledge.
“The museum is conceived as a sort of Ark where conserving and give life to all the quality species of Italian design. Preserving the beautiful historical central aisle of the ancient electric plant, the whole Collection crowds the walls with a light sign and a strong synergy between natural and artificial light. At the centre comfortable and innovative narrative tables interact with the different publics” explain Ico Migliore, Mara Servetto and Italo Lupi.
Didactics and experimentation can here be conceived as active parts of the exhibition system and find around these tables meeting and sharing moments both for groups and individual moments of research.
Along the balcony, that surrounds the industrial evidence of the electric machinery of the ancient plant, you can look out into the warehouse space, using a series of technological periscopes that create a connection with this area: advanced tools, able to show, but also to tell in a multimedia language the richness of the materials in stock encouraging the visitors in their discovery path.