MILaNO DeSIGn WEeK: “CONNeCTInG EXPeRIEnCES” – MiCHElE DE LuCCHi REiNVENtS POLtRONa FRAu’S FLaGSHiP SToRE PReSENTINg HIS PrOJEcT “EARtH STaTIOnS”
Text by: Fiammetta Cesana
“When artificial intelligence frees people from bureaucratic and repetitive chores, it will be necessary to find ways of using this new found freedom and the immense technological potential that will be unleashed”
On the occasion of Salone del Mobile in Milan, the designer and architect Michele De Lucchi presents “Connecting Experiences” transforming Poltrona Frau into a space dedicated to communication, work and leisure, where visitors can have a first taste of what an Earth Station will be.
“The Earth Stations are places that are primed and ready for the programming of the future, offering the environmental and psychological conditions that are perfect for shaping the evolution of the quality of life”
In a environmental and social landscape looking so far yet so close to us, De Lucchi shows his new conceptual project of Earth Stations. They could be museums, offices, theatres, restaurants, gyms, indoor parks, stores, and more, all connected to the network and constructed in infrastructural nodes enabling them to be easily accessed. The aim is to create an evolving space where people can walk through being in constant connection with the others, participating in dialogues, workshops, formal and informal encounters, and also enjoying moments of privacy. An Earth Station is a place where everything happens and changes inside.
This “futuristic” design concept is actually much present and tangible in our minds, since today the idea of interconnection is the main ingredient of any kind of cultural, social and artistic construction. Also, the “extreme” locations of Earth Stations may remind us the impossible architectures of the 1970s, making the image of these spectacular spaces even more familiar to us.
In the multifunctional showroom’s experience of Poltrona Frau, redesigned by de Lucchi, we move through a co-working space, a conference room, a reading room, a space to relax and a coffee bar. This experience makes us feel like we are living an architectural and social reality that belongs to the future but that, however, we have already absorbed and we are just waiting for.
Earth Station is an inevitable and aspirational future, and Connecting Experiences has started to realise its possible scenario.
