Curating Transitions

Abstract

This research report explores how transition spaces can define a museum route that enhances the exhibition experience. The project is developed for Fondazione Prada in Milan, on the site of a former industrial distillery. Fondazione Prada is understood as a cultural institution where art, research and public life come together. Within this context, the museum is not only a place for displaying art, but a curated environment in which movement, atmosphere and spatial sequence influence how exhibitions are experienced.

The design takes the morphology of the existing industrial complex as its starting point. Rather than treating the site as a collection of separate fragments, the project uses the existing volumes as a framework for a coherent cultural route. New additions extend the industrial structure and create three courtyards around which the museum is organised. These courtyards, together with the transition spaces between the exhibition rooms, become the main spatial tools of the project. They guide visitors through the building, create moments of pause, frame views and build curiosity between different exhibition spaces.

The project proposes a contemporary art museum with a range of exhibition spaces, each with its own spatial character and curatorial possibilities. Instead of allowing these spaces to remain separate, the transition spaces bring them together into one continuous experience. In this way, the route becomes more than circulation. It becomes part of the curatorial strategy of the museum, connecting the existing industrial fragments into one coherent exhibition experience.