Prada to turn distillery into art gallery

A former distillery is to become Milan’s latest gallery for contemporary art thanks to funding by the fashion house Prada.

An artist’s impression of what the new gallery will look like.

Once used as a distillery, the Largo Isarco building south of Milan is set to be transformed into the city’s largest contemporary art gallery by the Fondazione Prada – the art foundation set up by fashion designer Miuccia Prada and her husband Patrizio Bertelli in 1993.

It will be the foundation’s first permanent art gallery project and Milan’s first “proper” gallery for contemporary art.

“This new opening is an act of responsibility towards present times,” said Miuccia Prada. “Fondazione Prada will not be a museum, but rather the continuation of an intellectual process founded on the exploration of doubt and on extensive research.”

The building will be designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas with the intention of combining the building’s original industrial character with an eight-storey tower which the foundation hopes will become “a new landmark in Milan’s urban landscape”.

Announcing its plans the Fondazione Prada said the project would demonstrate a “unique approach to the idea of the co-existence of contemporary architecture with the regeneration of an historic area”, while its new auditorium would allow for the hosting of festivals, theatre performances and lectures on literature and art.