Within the contemporary design landscape, Alcova has steadily established itself not merely as an exhibition platform, but as a cultural device capable of interrogating the relationship between space, production, and society. Its itinerant nature—reactivating marginal or forgotten sites each year—feeds into a broader reflection on the city as a stratified organism, where design becomes a critical tool for reading the present. In this sense, Alcova does not simply “show” design; it situates it within contexts charged with memory, transforming it into a situated practice that brings historical legacies into tension with new forms of inhabitation.

From April 20 to 26, Alcova returns with a new spatial configuration centered around Villa Pestarini and the vast complex of the Baggio Military Hospital. Two radically different contexts—on one hand, a refined example of mid-century Rationalism; on the other, a layered institutional compound—become the stage for an edition that moves between rediscovery and experimentation, research and contemporary material culture. 

“We do not simply inhabit space as a neutral container; we live through the relations we establish with it through movements, uses, and practices that continuously redefine its meaning.”

— Michel de Certeau

Courtesy of Frederik Fialin

Across both sites, Alcova presents a wide-ranging panorama of over 120 international exhibitors, including established companies, independent designers, and leading schools. At Villa Pestarini, opened to the public for the first time, the intervention engages directly with the legacy of Franco Albini. The architect’s only private residence in Milan, the villa stands as a distilled manifesto of proportion, light, and material expression, inviting designers to confront a language that continues to resonate today.

Courtesy of Jane Wright & Jesse Butterfield

Within this setting, Haworth, together with Cassina, presents an installation by Patricia Urquiola that reinterprets the entrance and living areas, starting from iconic pieces such as the Veliero bookshelf and the Poltrona Luisa chair. The project engages with key architectural elements—most notably the imposing historic glass window—constructing a contemporary domestic atmosphere where vintage pieces and current objects coexist in a balance between memory and everyday use.

The narrative expands with a project dedicated to Luisa Castiglioni, a figure often overlooked in the history of Italian modernism. Through the Boccamonte project, set in one of her Ligurian houses from the 1950s, her work is revisited and repositioned within a broader genealogy, highlighting the role of individual trajectories in shaping design history. Surrounding this central theme, the current generation of artists brings a cluster of new voices to light. For example, Kiki Goti creates a set of marbles representing a workspace based on Greek tradition, while ISSÉ, in cooperation with Sophie Dries, focuses on the artistic and architectural potential of raw plant fibers. AtMa Inc, in turn, recycles wasted materials and designs a modular system where the connection point carries not only a functional but also a narrative value. Finally, Around the Studio uses Georgian traditional materials in contemporary design objects.

Courtesy of Llewellyn Chupin

At Baggio, the scale shifts dramatically. The former military hospital unfolds as a “city within the city,” its streets, courtyards, and service buildings reactivated through a multiplicity of site-specific installations. Here, the project takes on a more collective and experimental dimension, involving major international academic institutions.

For the first time, London’s Architectural Association presents an experimental pavilion and a series of works in the Lavanderia, sharing the space with UMPRUM from Prague. The Cucina is activated by Design Academy Eindhoven, while the Tempio hosts HEAD Genève. Student-led projects challenge established models of production and living, proposing innovative material approaches and imagining alternatives to contemporary habits.

Courtesy of Iranzo

Material research continues across independent studios and workshop-based practices: Pani Jurek Studio explores light, color, and tactility through complex ceramic compositions; Salak Studio foregrounds a rigorous, essential materiality; Kilzi and Marlot Baus develop independent production practices rooted in craftsmanship. Slalom, in collaboration with Vintage Audio Institute, stages an installation built around historic Italian synthesizers, while Llewellyn Chupin presents scenographic objects in hand-patinated aluminum, silk, and pearls. The collaboration between Natalia Triantafylli and Andrew Pierce Scott further expands the dialogue across furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects.

Alongside new participants, several notable returns take place. The Center for Creativity presents “House of Creatures,” a collective installation reactivating the refectory of the Casa delle Suore with ten Slovenian studios, including Soft Baroque. Noritake Design Collection returns with new porcelain works, including KILN by Faye Toogood. Shakti Design Residency continues its program pairing international designers with Indian ateliers, proposing a vision of heritage as a living, evolving condition.

The ongoing collaboration with OLDER continues with a new pop-up at the Tempio and the distinctive uniforms designed annually for Alcova’s staff. Mutina reshapes the food and beverage area with a sculptural ceramic counter designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, while the culinary offering is curated by Davide Longoni with creative consultancy by Alessandro Longhin—further emphasizing Alcova’s multi-layered approach, where design, experience, and conviviality intersect.

More than ever, this edition confirms Alcova as a diffuse laboratory where design is not an isolated object but a relational practice: a way of reading places, activating temporary communities, and redefining the very meaning of cultural production today.

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Words: Simone Lorusso