What to see in the tunnels in the central station at the Fuorisalone

What can architecture do to tell (and perhaps rewrite) the margins of society? TO Dropcitythe center for architecture and design in railway tunnels of Via Sammartini in Milanthis question is at the center of the new exhibitions, set up on the occasion of Fuorisalone 2025. There are now 18 tunnels activated out of 28: together they will constitute, within the year, one permanent cultural spaceflexible and radical. The spaces speak for themselves: clean, essential, without wall sockets, mobile tables on wheels, times in sound -absorbing sheet metal. An industrial aesthetic that welcomes, protects and invites to use, flexible and experimental.

Prisons

The most intense and courageous project is undoubtedly Prison Times – Spatial Dynamics of penal Environmentsdistributed over 1500 square meters and five tunnels (42-140). With the creative direction of Giada Zuan, the exhibition, scheduled until May 31, 2025explore the Architectural and temporal dimension of the prisonstarting from a question as simple as it is destabilizing: « How is the type of a prisoner structured? ». The result is a deep investigation, which crosses objects, furnishings, videos, testimonies, revealing how much every aspect of the prison life is governed by a own time zone.

Five sections (Entering, Eating, Monitoring, Cleaning, Sleeping Time) reveal normally invisible furnishings and devices and devices: tables that impose precise movements, beds designed to cancel customization, surveillance systems integrated in objects. All exposed as in one clinical showroomwhich plays with the retail codes to tell the market logic that is hidden behind the global criminal industry. Each object is at the same time tool and message, symbol and tool. The exhibition, produced by Dropcity with the collaboration of the Association Antigonealso involves artists, filmmakers, students, in a narration for several voices that manages to keep academic rigor together and visual impact.

In parallel, the talk cycle Reform Trust (until May 28) by Federica Verona and Valeria Verdolini addresses the themes of surveillanceof the prison work and the reform of the penitentiary institutes, highlighting the role of architecture in these control systems often invisible.

Exhibitions and research

Contrasting, by language and atmosphere, the exhibition Bruther.fbx Until Sunday 13 April he invites an immersive journey to the work of the French study Bruther. Two tunnels welcome audio-video installations, 3D scans and reactive materials in lighttransforming the space into a fluid archive. The first Italian retrospective of the Stéphanie Bru and Alexandre Theriot duo offers a dynamic and anti-generous vision of architecture as a mediation tool between rigor and freedom.

Edited by Laurian Ghiniiu, Giulia Albarello and Maria Jose Rubira, Marble Journey (tunnel 52) instead tells the marble routefrom its geological formation to contemporary use in architecture and design, raising reflections on matter, symbolic value and sustainability.

More playful but no less intelligent is Boxes Show (tunnel 54), a collective project by Sam Chermayeff: architects, artists and designers – including Konstantin GRCIC, Piovenefabi And Sabine Marcelishave been called to reinterpret a daily and often neglected object: the box. The result is a collection of micro-architectures, functional prototypes and small poetic gestures. Tunnels 58-60 also host Brigantino editions – born from the encounter between the designer Valentina Lucchetti and the multidisciplinary artist Caedicadada -, who until Sunday 13 April transfers the practice and the practice here Daily life of the study: The creative process thus becomes a moment of open and shared reflection, which is reflected in a changing and continuous movement space. F/a dis! (tunnel 64), edited by Fake / Authenticenhances the tunnel with a setting made of Networks, depths and points of view. Each object is framed, but never isolated: a perfect metaphor for the entire dropcity project.

Culture and fun

This year Dropcity also hosts a bookshop dedicated to the world of architecture and designwith the participation of some of the most important Swiss publishers. The tunnels are also this year hub for music and emerging artists: the partnership with Hundebiss Recordsthe platform curated and founded by Simone Trabucchi in 2007, aims to capture and present innovative sounds. Starting from Thursday 3 April, at the 38 tunnel, therefore theHundebiss Club With its musical marathons, made dj sets and live concerts.

Permanent spaces

Next to the exhibitions, Dropcity continues to build their own permanent infrastructure. There Materials Library (tunnel 62), born in collaboration with Bonomi Pattini Groupis one Public Materialca Where designers and students can touch, explore and catalog materials. A physical and sensory archive that integrates the digital dimension of design.

The Woodshop, carpentry workshop professional open to all, was set up in the 58-60 tunnels thanks to the support of SCM Group. Over 600 square meters of cutting -edge equipment to create prototypes, follow courses and experiment with materials. Here, the distance between project and production is shortened until they disappear.

In the tunnel 50, Textile Lab It welcomes the textile practice of the Studio Restaglio together with the artist Sofia Clementina Hosszufalussy. The laboratory is open to the public and becomes a space for intergenerational comparison, between Technology, memory and slow gestures.

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