Cartesian Space by AMO for Prada. Re-edition of 1960s inflatable stools by Verner Panton

Prada Spring/Summer 2019 is a study of innovative, essential, and excessive design, set against a space that reflects the ethos of Miuccia Prada, created by Dutch design studio AMO, with exclusive re-editions of the Inflatable Stool invented by influential Danish designer Verner Panton.

Cartesian Space by AMO. Prada, SS 2019 Menswear. Image courtesy of Prada

Prada has again collaborated with AMO for its Men’s Spring/Summer 2019 show, establishing a set that is industrially elegant and psychedelic. Located within the fashion house’s via Fogazzaro space in Milan, the exhibition space is treated as an architectural field divided into a series of squares labelled with geographic coordinates that define the positioning of the show’s guests. To complete the set, an exclusive re-edition of inflatable stools, first produced in the 1960s by renowned danish designer Verpan Panton, are placed within each square.

Description of project by AMO

For the 2019 Spring/Summer fashion show, AMO stages a return to basics with a sophisticated setup that brings fashion into the foreground by questioning the recent practice that sees show sets as explanatory efforts to contextualize collections.

The rough imperfection of the venue in Via Fogazzaro, Milan, is counterbalanced by the Cartesian precision of the set, which magnifies the industrial elegance of the space. The room is treated as an architectural field that controls the show’s dynamics: a grid defines the areas occupied by guests, while four different trajectories are left unoccupied for models to cross the room longitudinally, enforcing a strict serial layout.

A geometric pattern invades the room, a manifestation of the principles that organize the show’s choreography. Numbers and symbols define the exact positioning of the actors in the space, alluding to geographic coordinates of remote places.

To complete the set, inflatable stools by Verner Panton – an exclusive re-edition of the 1960s piece, produced by VERPAN for PRADA – were selected for their contemporary attitude, lightness and transparency. The entire room is covered in translucent sheets to produce an installation that disappears in the dim light of rare glowing sources, giving the room a psychedelic yet uncanny atmosphere.

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OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond.

OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.

OMA’s completed projects include Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux (2024), LANTERN in Detroit (2024), Mangalem 21 in Tirana (2023), Aviva Studios – Factory International in Manchester (2023), Apollolaan 171 in Amsterdam (2023), Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo (2023), Toranomon Hills Station Tower in Tokyo (2023), Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU.

AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

LAB, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). AMO/OMA

AMO is the think tank of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), co-founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1999. Applying architectural thinking to domains beyond building, AMO has worked with Prada, the European Union, Universal Studios, Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, Condé Nast, Harvard University, and the Hermitage. It has produced exhibitions, including Expansion and Neglect (2005) and When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013 (2013) at the Venice Biennale; The Gulf (2006), Cronocaos (2010), Public Works (2012), and Elements of Architecture (2014) at the Venice Architecture Biennale; and Serial Classics and Portable Classics (both 2015) at Fondazione Prada, Milan and Venice, respectively.

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a coloured "barcode" flag – combining the flags of all member states – that was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU.

AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including The Gulf (2006), Cronocaos (2010) and Public Works (2012) and for Fondazione Prada including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its principle publication Elements. Other notable projects are a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

Published on: June 18, 2018

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"Cartesian Space by AMO for Prada. Re-edition of 1960s inflatable stools by Verner Panton" METALOCUS. Accessed

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