Milan Design Week 2026 – 3 installations by Alessandro Scandurra

MilanoDesign Week- Mater, Corpo, Build-Un build, three installations by Alessandro Scandurra

Through his works Mater, Corpo, and Build–Unbuild, Italian architect Alessandro Scandurra reflects on the meaning of design for MDW 2026, shifting the focus from the object to people, from matter to movement.

Rebuilding from the rubble, from what has become waste, reconstructing starting from what remains: this is the theme of Mater, one of the three installations by Alessandro Scandurra for Milan Design Week 2026. In a time marked by destruction generated by conflict, the project is called to reactivate meaning where meaning has been interrupted. Mater takes shape from the direct experience gained in the reconstruction of schools in Ukraine, where matter struck by war is not merely debris: it is testimony and memory.
“I first encountered war as a child, in Lebanon. Today I have met it again while working on the reconstruction of schools in Ukraine,” explains Alessandro Scandurra. “Mater stems from the awareness that even what is destroyed can once again become a foundation.”
Created with the support of Holcim Italia — a leading company in the building materials sector — Mater will be installed at the center of the Cortile d’Onore at the University of Milan and will be open to visitors from April 20 to 30. A mound of rubble that is at once ruin and architecture, boundary and protection, will be arranged in a circular form with a diameter of approximately 16 meters. As visitors enter the circle of debris, they activate the space: those who step inside become part of it and transform the state of the material that defines it — from detritus to relational infrastructure

Above: two previews of Mater, courtesy of Alessandro Scandurra

Mater – designer: Alessandro Scandurra
Realization: Holcim Italia
Main event: Interni Materiae — FuoriSalone 2026
Place: Cortile d’Onore, Università degli Studi di Milano
Open from 20 through 30 April 2026

The second installation, titled Corpo, will be embedded within the urban fabric of the Isola Design District and presented as part of the Urban Collective Project. The work transforms a portion of the city into a performative space, where architecture and behaviour influence one another: here too, the focus shifts from the object to people, from matter to movement.
The project also introduces a reflection on materiality: a continuous surface made of nlcomp’s RComposite — a fully recyclable laminate derived from the nautical sector — creates an unbroken plane that connects the level of the square to a suspended platform approximately two metres above ground. At its base, the form is supported by a structure of wooden panels shaped through CNC machining, an internal framework that recalls the construction of boat hulls.

Corpo -designer: Alessandro Scandurra
Realization: nlcomp
Main event: Urban Collective Project
Place: Isola Design District – Square between via Francesco Restelli and via Filippo Sassetti
Open from 20 through 26 April 2026

Corpo, render, courtesy of Alessandro Scandurra

Within the Listone Giordano Arena, Alessandro Scandurra takes part in Build Un-build, a project promoted by Listone Giordano and curated by Seed Festival, which investigates building as a cultural, ethical, and relational act. Build Un-build explores the generative value of making and unmaking; in this context, construction becomes an opportunity to question the role of design in the relationships between individuals, matter, and the environment. The intervention unfolds within a transforming environment conceived by artist Raffaele Salvoldi. Scandurra contributes with a 30‑minute live performance, together with Salvoldi, in which the project takes shape through a kit of 200 modular elements in Fontaines Oak — a noble and sustainable material, the expression of a conscious supply chain.
Thirty minutes to imagine, configure, and question. Within this limited time, the design gesture condenses into an exercise in synthesis and responsibility, where form becomes the outcome of a process. Architecture is no longer an object, but what happens.