Milan’s annual design fair attracted more than 434,500 attendees from 188 countries—a 26 percent increase compared with last year’s crowd of 343,602—and proof, according to Claudio Luti, president of the fair and of furniture giant Kartell, “that the Salone del Mobile is a global benchmark” for design. Buzz surrounding key architectural moments seemed to support that pronouncement.
Although in-town installations, away from the main fairground, are routine, an official written manifesto the Salone issued ahead of this year’s opening lent fresh purpose to citywide participation during Milan Design Week. In one instance, Massimiliano Locatelli and his firm CLS Architetti collaborated with Italcementi Heidelberg Cement Group, Arup, and CyBe Construction on 3D Housing 05, a 1,076-square-foot 3-D-printed concrete house in Piazza Cesare Beccaria. That demonstration featured the machine’s building the ruggedly elegant volume on-site in a week, which placed the project several steps ahead of many previous efforts in the category. Locatelli completed it with brass door and window casings, a brass kitchen, and furniture such as his aluminum dining chairs, finished in 24-carat gold.
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