To speak of the best architecture studios in Genoa is therefore to look at a rich and complex design scene. Here, internationally recognised practices, established local firms and a new generation of architects work side by side, often engaging with the existing city through highly contemporary languages. Genoa is not only a place to restore or preserve. It is a demanding laboratory where architecture is called to address urban transformation, regeneration, historic residences, interior spaces, waterfronts, infrastructures, cultural venues and new ways of living.

This editorial selection brings together 25 architecture studios in Genoa that, through their professional history, design quality, recognisable approach and relationship with the territory, represent some of the most interesting voices in the city’s architectural landscape today. This is not a ranking, but a curated map for those looking for studios, architects and designers able to interpret Genoa through different scales and perspectives: from urban projects to interior design, from restoration to redevelopment, from private homes to collective spaces.

How we selected the architecture studios in Genoa

This selection is based on an editorial criterion that looks beyond visibility alone. What matters here is the ability of each studio to interpret Genoa through design. In a city where history is never a neutral backdrop, but a tangible presence within buildings, streets, slopes and domestic spaces, identifying the most relevant architecture studios means observing how each practice enters into dialogue with its context.

We considered studios capable of working with the identity of places, the transformation of existing buildings, the quality of interior space and the relationship between architecture, landscape and city. The criterion was not purely dimensional or media-driven. Alongside internationally known practices, we included studios deeply rooted in the local territory, able to develop a recognisable design research based on materiality, light, urban memory and the evolving needs of living today.

Designing in Genoa today means dealing with a demanding city: historic homes to rethink, interiors to make more flexible, buildings to recover, neighbourhoods to reactivate and relationships to rebuild between sea, hills and urban fabric. For this reason, we focused on studios that demonstrate sensitivity towards the built environment, attention to detail, the ability to read history without turning it into a static constraint and an openness to contemporary, sustainable and coherent design languages.

This is therefore not a ranking, but an editorial map: a selection of architecture studios in Genoa that reveal different approaches to design, from large-scale urban interventions to interior architecture, from restoration to regeneration, from private residences to collective spaces.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Among the architecture studios connected to Genoa, Renzo Piano Building Workshop inevitably holds a central place. Founded by Renzo Piano, with offices in Genoa and Paris, the practice is one of the most internationally recognised Italian architecture firms and has played a major role in shaping contemporary reflection on the relationship between architecture, city, infrastructure and landscape.

Its connection with Genoa is not merely biographical or symbolic. In the city, Renzo Piano’s work intersects with some of the most significant themes of urban design today: the waterfront, the relationship between the sea and the city, the transformation of port areas and the creation of public spaces capable of reconnecting places that have long remained separated. In this sense, RPBW is not simply a studio “from Genoa”, but a presence that has helped redefine the city’s architectural imagination.

Its inclusion in this selection is therefore essential: not because of the weight of the name alone, but because the studio’s work continues to represent an open reflection on Genoa today, on its potential and on the transformations that may shape its future.

Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia

Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia is one of the most recognisable Italian practices in the field of contemporary architecture, with offices in Genoa, Milan and Paris. Its work moves across urban design, public architecture, residential projects, workplaces, schools, regeneration and the transformation of complex sites.

The studio is known for its strong focus on materiality, light, the narrative dimension of architecture and the relationship between buildings and the city. In Genoa, this sensitivity finds particularly fertile ground: a city made of layers, contrasts, solids and voids, density and sudden openings towards the sea.

Including Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia among the best architecture studios in Genoa means recognising the role of a practice able to operate across different scales, from construction detail to urban vision, while maintaining a strong design identity. It is a studio that sees architecture not only as the construction of buildings, but as a cultural, urban and social device.

Dodi Moss

Dodi Moss is an architecture studio based in Genoa, active in architecture, landscape, restoration, recovery and the transformation of existing buildings. It is one of the most interesting practices for understanding the relationship between contemporary design and built heritage, a central theme in a city such as Genoa.

The studio’s work is defined by an attentive approach to context, the scale of intervention and the quality of space. Rather than imposing a recognisable language in advance, Dodi Moss appears to build each project from the specific conditions of the place: the history of the buildings, the urban configuration, the landscape and the possibilities offered by what already exists.

This attitude makes the studio particularly aligned with a layered city like Genoa, where architectural design cannot be separated from the memory of places. Dodi Moss is included in this list for its ability to combine research, rigour and sensitivity towards the built environment, offering a vision of architecture as a conscious form of transformation.

caarpa

caarpa is an architecture studio based in Genoa, inside Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino, one of the most significant buildings in the city’s historic centre. This location already says a great deal about its relationship with Genoa: a studio working within a dense, fragile and precious historical context, developing research across architecture, design, landscape and spatial transformation.

The work of caarpa is interesting because it moves naturally between memory and the present. Its projects often reveal a refined attention to materials, proportions, light and the character of places. This is not decorative or superficial design, but an approach that seeks to understand the deeper structure of spaces before intervening.

For Archi&Interiors, caarpa deserves inclusion because it represents a possible Genoese path to contemporary design: cultured, measured, rooted in context, yet capable of engaging with current architectural languages. In a city where historic heritage is a living part of everyday experience, studios such as caarpa show how working on the existing can become an active field of research, not merely a conservative practice.

llabb

llabb is an architecture studio founded in Genoa in 2013 by Luca Scardulla and Federico Robbiano. Within the local scene, it stands out for its highly recognisable work on interiors, compact homes, renovations and tailor-made spaces, with a strong focus on spatial optimisation and the quality of domestic experience.

Its approach is particularly relevant because it addresses one of the most current issues in residential design: how to work with small, complex or constrained spaces without sacrificing identity, comfort or precision of detail. In a city like Genoa, where many homes are shaped by historic structures, irregular layouts and dimensional limits, this design ability becomes even more significant.

llabb deserves to be listed among the best architecture studios in Genoa because it represents a generation of designers able to bring interior design onto an architectural level, avoiding purely decorative solutions. In its projects, the interior becomes an intelligent system, built through integrated furniture, materials, light and carefully calibrated functional relationships.

Gosplan Architects

Gosplan Architects is an architecture studio based in Genoa, active in architecture, interiors, public spaces and the transformation of the existing. Its research occupies an interesting territory, combining compositional rigour, attention to context and the ability to use design as a critical tool for reading places.

Within the Genoese landscape, Gosplan is especially coherent with the character of the city. It works on spaces that are often complex, layered, full of constraints and possibilities. Its approach does not seek immediate spectacle, but builds value through proportion, measured use of materials, precise spatial solutions and a careful relationship between new and existing.

Its presence in this selection is motivated by the quality of its work and by its ability to express a contemporary design culture rooted in Genoa. It is a studio that contributes to a quieter but highly interesting local architectural scene, where design becomes an exercise in precision, technical culture and urban sensitivity.

CIRCOLO-A

CIRCOLO-A is an architecture studio founded in Genoa in 2015, with an approach that brings together architectural design, landscape, design culture and sustainability. Its presence in this selection is significant because it represents a younger and more current part of the Genoese scene, able to engage with themes of living, urban transformation and the relationship between built space and environment.

The studio’s work is distinguished by a design sensitivity that never separates the building from its context. In a city such as Genoa, where every intervention belongs to a complex system of relationships between sea, hills, historic fabric and infrastructures, the ability to read the place becomes central. CIRCOLO-A works with an idea of architecture as an open process, where the project is not only form, but also a response to social, environmental and residential needs.

The studio enters the list because it represents a generation of architects attentive to contemporary languages, yet aware of the responsibility that design carries towards places. Its research adds a current perspective to the Genoese scene, oriented towards spatial quality and the possibility of imagining new relationships between architecture, landscape and everyday life.

UNA2 Architetti Associati

UNA2 Architetti Associati is a Genoa-based practice active across a broad range of design fields: public and private architecture, museum spaces, offices, schools, universities, residential buildings, sports facilities and collective places. Its presence in this selection is linked to the solidity of its professional path and its ability to address very different scales and programmes.

Within the Genoese panorama, UNA2 represents a structured studio able to move between architectural design, redevelopment, cultural spaces and interventions intended for the community. It is less tied to the sole dimension of interior design, yet important for understanding how architecture in Genoa is not only about private homes or the recovery of historic interiors. It also involves schools, public places, services, social spaces and community infrastructure.

Its inclusion responds to the desire to offer a more complete image of the city’s design scene. Genoa needs studios capable of working on the quality of everyday spaces, not only on iconic buildings. UNA2 belongs to this perspective, with a professional activity oriented towards the creation of functional, recognisable environments rooted in the urban context.

MOR Studio Associato

MOR Studio Associato is a professional practice based in Genoa, active in architecture, engineering, urban design, public buildings, healthcare spaces, schools, housing and redevelopment projects. It brings to this list a more technical and infrastructural dimension, which is essential for describing the complexity of design in a city such as Genoa.

Not every relevant studio is defined by a strongly authorial communication style or by a highly recognisable social presence. Some practices are important because they work on the concrete structure of the city: public buildings, collective spaces, services, complex interventions and works that require integrated skills and coordination. MOR Studio Associato belongs to this category.

Its presence among the best architecture studios in Genoa is motivated by its professional solidity and its ability to work on articulated programmes, often connected to people’s daily lives. In a layered, fragile and intensely built city, architecture is not only image. It is also the management of complexity, technical responsibility and the ability to transform the existing in a functional and lasting way.

Studio Modus

Studio Modus is an architecture studio active in Genoa and across Liguria, with work focused on design, renovation, building redevelopment and energy efficiency. Its presence in this selection helps highlight an increasingly central theme: the quality of the existing built fabric and its ability to respond to new ways of living.

In many Italian cities, and Genoa is a clear example, the future of architecture does not depend only on new construction, but above all on the intelligent transformation of what is already there. Homes to rethink, buildings to upgrade, spaces to make more efficient, comfortable and aligned with current lifestyles: these are the fields in which studios such as Studio Modus play a concrete role.

The studio’s inclusion reflects the desire to tell the story of a form of design that may be less spectacular, but is essential to the real quality of everyday living. Sustainability, in this sense, is not just a keyword. It is expressed through the ability to intervene on existing buildings, improve their performance, enhance their potential and make them more suitable for life today.

AGLarchitects

AGLarchitects is an architecture studio based in Genoa, active in architectural design and the transformation of spaces. Its presence in this selection contributes to the portrait of a local professional scene also made up of independent studios, able to work within the territory with a contemporary outlook and a strong attention to design quality.

The value of a studio such as AGLarchitects lies in its ability to operate within the Genoese fabric without losing its own design identity. Genoa is a city that does not allow easy solutions. It requires measure, knowledge of constraints, the ability to read spaces and attention to the relationship between interior and exterior. In this context, architecture must find a balance between functional needs, the memory of places and a contemporary language.

AGLarchitects enters the list because it represents a coherent part of a widespread Genoese design culture, made not only of major names but also of studios that work consistently on the transformation of everyday spaces. It is precisely this less celebratory but highly concrete dimension that makes the city’s architectural scene so interesting.

Francesca Torzo Architetto

Francesca Torzo Architetto is one of the most authoritative names to include in a map of architecture studios in Genoa. After a path of education and research developed between Italy and international contexts, Francesca Torzo founded her studio in Genoa, developing a design language recognised for its rigour, attention to materiality, construction care and sensitivity towards the perceptive quality of space.

Her architecture does not seek immediate effect, but works on the depth of experience: proportions, light, thresholds, the consistency of materials and the relationship between body, space and time. It is a cultured and measured research, where each project is born from close observation of the place and from the ability to transform every intervention into an opportunity for knowledge.

The presence of Francesca Torzo in this selection is important because it gives the Genoese scene a high-profile and international dimension without losing its connection to the city. Her work shows how Genoa can be not only a complex territory on which to intervene, but also a starting point for architectural research capable of engaging with the European debate.

Archifax Architects

Archifax Architects is a Genoese architecture studio active across architecture, furniture, design and the redevelopment of existing spaces. Guided by a design sensitivity that brings together space, material and function, the studio is particularly aligned with the editorial perspective of Archi&Interiors, because it works in that border area where architecture and interior design become part of the same process.

In Genoa, redevelopment is not only about buildings. It also concerns the way interiors are lived, transformed and adapted to new needs. In this sense, Archifax Architects belongs to a design culture that looks at homes, private spaces and workplaces as environments to be rethought with care, avoiding standardised solutions.

The studio deserves a place in this list because it expresses the importance of tailor-made design, attention to detail and the ability to intervene on the existing with a current language. In a city where many spaces preserve historical traces and structural constraints, the quality of an intervention often comes precisely from the ability to make memory and contemporary use work together.

Bump Studio

Bump Studio is an architecture and design studio based in Genoa, founded by Giulio Massetani and Fabio Filippo. Its activity focuses on interiors, renovations, residential spaces and tailor-made projects, with a young, direct approach attentive to the needs of living today.

The presence of Bump Studio in this selection is important because it brings into the map of Genoese practices a very current dimension: the home as a flexible, personal, functional and identity-driven space. Today, interior design is no longer only about selecting materials or furniture. It is about creating environments capable of responding to new rhythms of life, new forms of work, new comfort needs and new domestic habits.

Bump Studio interprets this transformation with a contemporary language, oriented towards spatial clarity, personalisation and the relationship between aesthetics and function. For this reason, it enters the list: because it represents a part of the Genoese scene closely connected to everyday living, without giving up the architectural quality of the project.

DOORI architettura

DOORI architettura is a Genoa-based studio active in architectural design, interiors and the transformation of existing spaces. Its work belongs to a design dimension that is especially relevant for the city: interventions able to read the character of environments and reinterpret it through contemporary, measured and functional solutions.

In a city like Genoa, where many interiors are set within historic buildings, complex floor plans and strong material identities, design must proceed with care. Renovating is not enough. It is necessary to understand what should be preserved, what can be transformed, what deserves to be brought to light and how spaces can be made more suitable for today’s needs.

DOORI architettura deserves to be included among the studios to know because it works with a thoughtful design approach, able to connect architecture and daily life. Its profile is coherent with a contemporary reading of Genoese living, where the value of design lies in improving spaces without erasing their identity.

Studio Caligo

Studio Caligo is a young Genoese practice with an approach oriented towards research, redevelopment and the transformation of spaces. Its presence in this selection responds to the desire to include emerging studios capable of bringing new sensitivities into the local architectural scene.

The studio’s name itself evokes an image linked to atmosphere, perception and the reading of places. Beyond this evocative dimension, what makes Studio Caligo interesting is the possibility of observing a generation of designers who approach the built environment not as a simple inheritance to preserve, but as living matter to interpret.

In Genoa, this attitude is particularly relevant. The city offers complex, often irregular and layered spaces that are not immediately legible. Including Studio Caligo means recognising the value of a young design practice able to move between contemporary sensitivity, attention to context and the desire to build new spatial qualities from what already exists.

Ministudio Architetti

Ministudio Architetti is a studio based in Genoa, active in architectural and interior design. Its presence in this selection is linked to its ability to work on residential spaces, tailor-made environments and interventions that place the quality of living at the centre.

The studio’s name suggests a compact dimension, but not a marginal one. In contemporary architecture, especially in a dense city like Genoa, the small scale can become a highly interesting field of experimentation. Small apartments, homes to reconfigure, rooms to make more functional, details to design with precision: these themes deeply affect people’s everyday lives.

Ministudio Architetti enters the list because it represents that part of design culture that works on measure, intelligent use of space and the relationship between architecture and interior design. In a city where interiors are often complex and full of constraints, the ability to transform even limited surfaces into coherent and well-resolved environments becomes an important architectural value.

DLA Design Lab

DLA Design Lab is a studio based in Genoa, active in interior design, commercial spaces, contract projects and tailor-made environments. Its presence in this selection is particularly coherent with the perspective of Archi&Interiors, because it represents a dimension of design closely connected to the real experience of space: the point where architecture, furniture, function and visual identity meet.

In the Genoese context, work on interiors has a specific value. The city is made of historic buildings, layered spaces and environments often conditioned by proportions, views, structures and pre-existing elements. Intervening in these places means building a balance between contemporary needs and the character of the space, avoiding both the erasure of the past and purely decorative preservation.

DLA Design Lab enters the list because it treats interior design as a complex discipline, not as a merely aesthetic choice. In its projects, space is addressed through layouts, materials, lighting, furniture and functional solutions designed to respond to concrete needs. It is a studio that represents an important part of contemporary design: the work on the everyday quality of environments and on the ability of interiors to express identity, use and relationship with those who inhabit them.

PIA – Perotta Iberto Architetti

PIA – Perotta Iberto Architetti is a Genoese studio founded by Alessandro Perotta and Valeria Iberto, active across architecture, interiors, exhibition design and design research. Its presence in this selection helps highlight a local practice able to move carefully between design, context and experimentation.

The studio’s work belongs to a Genoese architectural scene that is not made only of major urban transformations, but also of more precise interventions, where the value of the project emerges from the ability to read spaces, interpret their constraints and build solutions consistent with their identity. This dimension is especially important in a city like Genoa, where every building carries a history and every interior can become an opportunity for contemporary rewriting.

PIA deserves to be included among the architecture studios in Genoa to know because it represents a careful, rooted and recognisable design culture. Its approach sees the project as a process of relationships: between space and function, memory and language, the client’s needs and the architectural quality of the intervention.

Studio.D Architettura

Studio.D Architettura is a Genoese practice active in architectural design, exhibition design and interior architecture. Guided by a sensitivity oriented towards the transformation of spaces, the studio works on projects in which residential and functional dimensions are approached with attention to the quality of the built environment.

Including Studio.D Architettura in this selection means recognising the role of those professional practices that operate within the everyday fabric of the city. Genoa is not made only of monumental architecture or large urban interventions. It is also composed of homes, studios, private spaces, commercial environments and places to be rethought through measured, precise and coherent interventions.

The studio enters the list because it interprets design as a tool for the concrete improvement of spaces. At a time when living requires greater flexibility, comfort, functionality and attention to domestic quality, practices such as Studio.D Architettura make visible an essential part of the profession: the one that works close to people, their needs and the way environments are experienced every day.

MADesign – Mazzarelli Architettura e Design

MADesign – Mazzarelli Architettura e Design is a studio founded in Genoa in 2005 and led by Silvia Mazzarelli. Its work moves across architecture, interior design, restoration, installations and projects in which material, light and the memory of places play a central role.

The studio’s presence in this selection is linked to its ability to work on a design dimension that is particularly meaningful for Genoa: the dialogue between the existing and the present. In a city marked by historical layers, complex buildings and spaces rich in identity, architecture cannot be a neutral gesture. It must know how to read what is already there, recognise its value and, at the same time, introduce new possibilities of use and new perceptive qualities.

MADesign represents this sensitivity well. Its interventions reveal attention to the character of environments, the expressive force of materials, light as a compositional element and the possibility of creating spaces that remain connected to memory while embracing a current language. For this reason, the studio belongs among the names to know in the Genoese scene.

Miria Uras Architetto

Miria Uras Architetto is an architecture and interior design studio based in Genoa’s historic centre, in Via San Bernardo. This location is far from secondary: working in the heart of the old city means dealing every day with complex spaces, layered buildings, historical constraints and an architectural heritage that demands sensitivity, competence and measure.

The studio belongs to that part of Genoese design culture closest to the home, renovation, interiors and the transformation of private spaces. This dimension is often less visible than the large urban project, but it is essential for understanding how the way of living in the city is truly changing. Historic homes, city-centre apartments, spaces to recover and adapt to present needs are among the most interesting fields of architecture in Genoa.

Miria Uras Architetto enters the list because it represents a design approach attentive to the relationship between the identity of a place and everyday life. In a Genoese context, the value of an intervention lies not only in renewing a space, but in doing so without losing its depth, memory and character.

Marta Rebora Architetta

Marta Rebora Architetta is a Genoese architect specialised in interior architecture and the design of domestic spaces. Her presence in this selection responds to the desire to include professionals able to work with precision on the theme of the home, now central to the wider conversation on living.

In recent years, the home has become an increasingly complex space. It is no longer only a place for rest or private life, but also an environment for work, relationships, care, representation and daily wellbeing. This shift has made interior architecture increasingly relevant, especially in cities where the existing residential heritage requires intelligent, personalised and sustainable interventions.

Marta Rebora Architetta enters the list because she interprets this transformation with an approach close to the real needs of living. Her work focuses on making spaces more functional, coherent and liveable, with attention to measure, light, layout and the overall quality of the domestic environment. Her presence helps describe a Genoa that is not only monumental, but also intimate, concrete and everyday.

Go-Up Architettura

Go-Up Architects is an architecture studio based in Genoa, founded in 2015 and active in architectural design, restoration, interior design and the transformation of existing buildings. Its inclusion in this selection is linked precisely to its genuine local roots and its ability to work on themes that are highly coherent with the city: recovery, reuse, interiors, existing structures and spatial quality.

In a map of architecture studios in Genoa, Go-Up Architects represents a clear editorial choice: not necessarily the most media-oriented name, but a concrete and stable practice connected to the city’s urban and professional context. This is important because a credible selection should not be limited to the most famous or most visible studios online. It should also reflect the real professional fabric of the city.

The studio’s work moves within a field that is especially significant for Genoa, where design often coincides with the ability to transform what already exists. Restoration, interior design and architectural planning thus become tools to reactivate spaces, improve the quality of living and create new relationships between memory, contemporary use and the identity of places.

Forma Studio

Forma Studio is a Genoa-based practice that brings together architecture, design, visualisation and bespoke planning. Its presence in the selection allows us to describe a more hybrid dimension of contemporary practice, where different skills contribute to the creation of spaces, images, environments and integrated design solutions.

Today, architecture no longer exists only in the construction phase. It is also expressed through the ability to communicate an idea of space, represent it, make it legible to the client and translate it into a coherent system of materials, proportions, furnishings and atmospheres. In this sense, studios such as Forma Studio reflect a real evolution of the profession: more interdisciplinary, more connected to the dialogue between design, image and realisation.

Its inclusion in the list is linked to the desire to represent this part of the Genoese scene as well: young or hybrid practices able to move between architecture, design and visual culture. In a complex city such as Genoa, where every intervention requires reading skills and adaptability, these competences also become part of the way contemporary design takes shape.

Genoa, a design scene to observe beyond the big names

The selection of the best architecture studios in Genoa returns the image of a city in transformation, yet still deeply connected to its own identity. Alongside internationally recognised practices, able to work at the urban scale and on the future of the waterfront, there is a widespread professional fabric that works every day on homes, interiors, historic buildings, public spaces, workplaces and environments to be reconverted.

It is precisely this plurality that makes the Genoese architectural scene so interesting. Genoa is not an easy city to design for. It requires attention, technical culture, historical sensitivity and the ability to listen. Every intervention must engage with a complex geography, a dense built heritage, a particular quality of light, the continuous relationship between sea and hills and a way of living often different from that of other Italian cities.

For this reason, speaking of architecture studios in Genoa also means speaking of a broader idea of design. Not only buildings, but transformations. Not only aesthetics, but spatial quality. Not only preservation, but the ability to update the city without erasing its depth. From the large urban scale to interior design, from restoration to regeneration, the Genoese scene shows how architecture can still be an essential tool for reading, inhabiting and imagining the future of the city.

L'articolo Best Architecture Studios in Genoa: 25 Names to Know, Between Contemporary Design, Urban Memory and the Transformation of the Existing proviene da Archi & Interiors.

At the heart of this return is the linen tablecloth. It does not evoke stiff formality, but a more natural idea of elegance. Its tactile texture, soft drape and ability to bring light to the table make it the ideal foundation for creating a refined mise en place: considered, current and never excessive.

Today, setting the table is no longer only about following the rules of etiquette. It means choosing an atmosphere, creating proportion between the elements, enhancing materials and colours, and making visible a sense of care before the meal even begins. In this way, the table becomes one of the most expressive places in the home: a space where aesthetics, function and hospitality meet with quiet ease.

How to set the table with a linen tablecloth

To understand how to set the table with elegance, the starting point is the base. A tablecloth is not simply a backdrop: it defines the tone of the entire composition. A linen tablecloth makes the table feel softer, brighter and more inviting, creating a surface where plates, glasses, cutlery and centrepieces immediately find a better balance.

White linen remains the most versatile choice. On a dark wood table, it creates contrast and lightness. On a marble top, it softens the coolness of the surface. In an essential dining room, it adds warmth without introducing unnecessary decoration. Outdoors, it brings a sense of freshness and care, especially when paired with pale ceramics, coloured glasses and coordinated linen napkins.

The success of a table setting does not depend on the number of elements, but on the relationship between them. A tablecloth with a strong material presence does not need many additions. Well-proportioned plates, coherent glassware, carefully chosen cutlery and a measured central detail are enough. A refined mise en place begins here: with few elements, thoughtfully arranged.

Linen tablecloth: why it is back in today’s mise en place

The linen tablecloth has returned because it responds to the desire for a warmer, more personal home connected to natural materials. Unlike fabrics that feel too glossy or rigid, linen has a living presence: a tactile hand, a slight irregularity and a discreet luminosity that make it refined without looking overdone.

White remains the most classic and luminous option, but it is not the only one. Ecru, sand, ivory, dove grey, sage green and terracotta allow for warmer and more personal table settings. These tones are easy to introduce into different interiors because they work naturally with wood, ceramic, glass, steel and natural fibres.

For an everyday table, linen can make even a simple lunch feel special. For a dinner with guests, it becomes the base that holds the entire table composition together. This is why table linen should not be considered a secondary detail: it has the power to change the perception of a space, just like curtains, rugs and cushions do in the other rooms of the home.

Elegant mise en place: basic rules for cutlery, glasses and napkins

An elegant mise en place starts with a few simple rules. The fork is placed to the left of the plate. The knife goes to the right, with the blade facing inwards. The spoon is added to the right only when the menu requires it. Glasses are positioned at the top right, beginning with the water glass and adding wine glasses according to what will be served.

The napkin can be placed to the left, in the centre of the plate or on top of the bowl. On more considered tables, a linen napkin is preferable to paper because it creates continuity with the tablecloth and adds a tactile note. Complex folds are not necessary: a soft fold, a simple knot or a natural placement on the plate is often far more elegant than an overly theatrical arrangement.

These rules help to set the table with order, but they should not make the composition feel rigid. Etiquette offers a foundation, not a constraint. A home table must remain welcoming, comfortable and suited to the occasion. The aim is not to imitate a restaurant, but to create a clear balance between function and beauty.

Tablecloth, runner or placemats: what to choose for an elegant table

The tablecloth is the most complete solution when the table is meant to take centre stage. It covers the surface, unifies the elements and immediately creates a more intimate atmosphere. It is ideal for a dinner with guests, an important lunch, a festive table or an outdoor mise en place designed with care.

A table runner works best when part of the tabletop is meant to remain visible, especially if the table itself has a distinctive material quality. It can also be layered over a plain tablecloth, provided the result remains light. Placemats, on the other hand, are better suited to breakfasts, informal lunches and everyday tables, particularly in the kitchen or in more dynamic living spaces.

The choice depends on the desired effect. For a more elegant and enveloping table, the tablecloth remains the strongest option. For a more graphic and informal result, the runner may be more suitable. When practicality comes first, placemats remain a valid choice. However, when the goal is to create a well-defined elegant table setting, a linen tablecloth retains a presence that is difficult to replace.

White linen tablecloth: how to pair plates, glasses and centrepieces

A white linen tablecloth works because it gives space to every other element. With white plates, it creates a bright and ordered table. With handcrafted ceramics, it introduces a more tactile contrast. With transparent glasses, it keeps the effect light, while amber, green, smoked or blue glassware adds depth and character.

To avoid a table that feels too cold, it is useful to introduce warmer materials. Wood, rattan, glazed ceramic, brass and coloured glass help make the composition more personal. The centrepiece should follow the same logic: low, proportioned and never intrusive, so it does not interrupt the view between guests.

Fresh flowers, green branches, seasonal fruit or low candles can complete the table without weighing it down. The important thing is to maintain a clear visual thread. If the tablecloth is white, a single colour detail can guide the composition: green glassware, terracotta ceramics, a subtle golden reflection in the cutlery, beige linen napkins. In this way, the table remains rich yet composed.

Italian designer cutlery: 5 brands to know for the table

Cutlery is not the focal point of the table, yet it has a strong impact on the perception of the mise en place. The shape of the handle, the weight, the finish and the reflection of the metal contribute to the visual balance just as much as plates and glasses. For this reason, when creating a curated table, designer cutlery deserves attention.

Among the most recognisable Italian names are Alessi, known for its connection with author-led design and iconic collections; Sambonet, strongly associated with elegant tables and hospitality; Mepra, appreciated for its steel workmanship and finishes; Casa Bugatti, more decorative and distinctive; and Eme Posaterie, a historic name in Italian cutlery.

The choice should always remain coherent with the rest of the table. Stainless steel cutlery is bright and versatile. Gold or burnished finishes add warmth, but require a more controlled palette. Black cutlery works well on highly graphic tables, especially with light tablecloths and essential plates. Here too, elegance comes from balance, not accumulation.

How to create an elegant table without a restaurant effect

Creating an elegant table setting does not mean multiplying objects or turning dinner into an overly formal mise en place. Domestic elegance is more subtle: it comes from a quality textile base, well-proportioned plates, carefully chosen glasses and a visual rhythm that allows the space to breathe.

To avoid a restaurant-like effect, the table should retain a sense of naturalness. The tablecloth can have a soft drape, napkins can be placed without overly constructed folds, and the centrepiece can feel spontaneous. A controlled mix of different elements also makes the table more interesting: essential plates with coloured glasses, a neutral tablecloth with more distinctive cutlery, tactile ceramics with fine stemware.

Lighting completes the atmosphere. A light that is too cold makes the table feel less welcoming, while warm, well-distributed lighting enhances materials, colours and reflections. Low candles, used with restraint, add depth without turning dinner into an excessive stage set. The best table is not the perfect one, but the one where every detail seems designed to make guests feel at ease.

Table textiles: linen, napkins and tableware in today’s home interior

Table textiles are returning to the centre of the home because they can change the atmosphere without changing the furniture. Tablecloths, napkins, runners and table linen introduce colour, texture and warmth, turning the table into a meeting point between aesthetics and everyday life.

In today’s domestic interior, the table is no longer only the place where lunch or dinner is served. It is a space for meeting, conversation, hospitality and care. This is why the mise en place takes on a broader meaning: it tells the story of how a home welcomes, how it relates to time and how much attention it gives to materials.

The return of the linen tablecloth should be read in this direction. It is not nostalgia, but the recovery of a more conscious ritual. Setting the table means creating an atmosphere before the food is even served. It means choosing a base, giving order to the elements, creating balance between aesthetics and function. Above all, it means remembering that the elegance of a home often lies in the simplest gestures: a carefully laid tablecloth, a fabric napkin, a well-chosen glass, warm light and the pleasure of making every guest feel expected.

L'articolo The Return of the Tablecloth: Textiles, Linen and Mise en Place in Today’s Home proviene da Archi & Interiors.

In this interview, Andrea Lanza, Marketing Manager at Megius, discusses the evolution of a company that has been able to interpret changes in the way we live while keeping identity, expertise, and vision at the center. What emerges is the portrait of a brand that continues to read the bathroom not as a simple service space, but as a place dedicated to daily well-being, design quality, and a recognizable idea of Made in Italy.

Megius was founded in 1976 and immediately linked its identity to the shower enclosure: how did such a specific product become not only an industrial specialization, but the true cultural core of the brand?

Our specialization is not only construction-based, but conceptual. Since 1976, we have stopped considering the shower as a simple accessory, transforming it into the element around which the entire bathroom design project revolves. Being specialists means knowing every secret of glass and aluminum, and placing these materials at the service of everyday well-being.

Over the past fifty years, the way people experience the bathroom has changed profoundly. Which transformations in contemporary living have had the greatest impact on your evolution, taking you from shower enclosures to a broader proposal connected to bathroom furniture and wellness?

The bathroom has moved from being a purely functional space to a room dedicated to self-care. This search for relaxation has pushed us beyond the shower: today, people are looking for a complete experience that integrates heat, steam, and water. As a result, we have developed solutions that combine traditional bathroom furniture with advanced wellness systems.

In your journey, technical expertise has always been central, from opening systems to glass treatments and construction precision: how do you work today to ensure that technology does not remain invisible, but becomes a perceptible part of the project’s quality?

For us, technology is aesthetic. We work on the precision of opening mechanisms and the purity of glass treatments so that quality can be felt to the touch and seen in the fluidity of movement. When a product works perfectly and is easy to use, technology stops being invisible and becomes perceived value.

Water, glass, aluminum, steel, wood, heat: the Megius universe brings together very different materials and sensations. How important is material, in your work, as a tool for building a recognizable identity and not only technical performance?

Material is our signature. Using aluminum, steel, glass, and wood is not only about guaranteeing performance, but also about transmitting precise tactile sensations. The Megius identity can be recognized in the choice of authentic materials that, when combined, create a unique and coherent visual language.

At a certain point, the shower was no longer enough for you: the range opened up to saunas, hammams, combined systems, and wellness solutions. When did you understand that this was not simply a catalog extension, but a structural expansion of your vision?

It happened when we understood that the customer was no longer looking for an object, but for a ritual. It was no longer enough to define the space of water; it became necessary to manage steam and heat. That was the moment when we shifted from being producers of shower enclosures to creators of wellness ecosystems.

In the hospitality world, you have developed a very precise reflection on the bathroom as a competitive lever of the guest experience, supported by tailor-made services before and during installation: what does contract design teach you about the relationship between product, project, and the expectations of today’s guest?

Hospitality teaches us that the product must be impeccable from every point of view: resistance, ease of maintenance, and immediate visual impact. Today’s guest looks for an exclusive experience even while traveling. For us, this means providing tailor-made solutions that transform a hotel room into a regenerating space.

Solferino LAB in Brera and the Architheatre showroom in Mestrino seem to express the desire to create places of relationship, selection, and customization, not only display spaces. What role do these spaces play in your dialogue with architects, interior designers, and industry professionals?

They are places of dialogue, in addition to product display. In these spaces, architects and designers can experience the solutions firsthand, personalize details, and build the project together with us. This is where our technical expertise meets the creativity of professionals, giving life to unique solutions.

Very often, the shower enclosure is still perceived as a technical element to be solved. You, instead, insist on its aesthetic potential and on its ability to become the focal point of the bathroom: what needs to happen, in your view, for the shower to truly be understood as an element of interior architecture?

We need to strip it of the unnecessary. A shower becomes architecture when it interacts with the volumes of the room, when the profiles are reduced, and when glass becomes a transparent wall that defines the space without closing it. Our commitment is to give the shower the same dignity as an author-designed piece of furniture.

The theme of customization is very strong in your solutions, from finishes to special sizes, glass processing, and project-specific responses: where does Megius find the balance today between industrial reliability and a culture of tailor-made design?

The balance lies in the flexibility of our processes. We have an industrial structure that guarantees safety and durability, but we maintain an artisanal approach in managing special sizes and finishes. Every piece is the result of technological industry, but it is finished with the care of tailor-made detail.

Andrea Lanza, as Marketing Manager, you occupy a particular observation point, where industrial identity, product language, and brand storytelling must remain coherent. In a company like Megius, how delicate is it today to build a contemporary image without oversimplifying the technical complexity that has always defined you?

It is a daily challenge. We do not want to hide complexity, but to make it understandable. We communicate innovation through a clean and direct language, where the brand’s contemporary image reflects the technical quality behind every product.

Salone del Mobile 2026 arrives at a very particular moment, with the bathroom gaining increasing centrality within the fair and Megius celebrating its fiftieth anniversary: what story did you want to build at the fair, beyond the simple presentation of new products?

We wanted to celebrate our first fifty years not as a finish line, but as a new beginning. The story at the fair revolves around the “Home of Well-Being”: a journey that places people and their need for regeneration through water and heat at the center.

At Salone, you are also presenting the entry of Albatros into the Megius world, introducing a heritage of expertise in bathtubs and mini spa pools: what complementarities did you recognize in this integration, and how do you think it will change the perception of the group in the coming years?

Albatros brings with it an immense heritage in the world of bathtubs and small spa pools. This union allows us to offer a complete answer: Megius excels in vertical well-being — showers and saunas — while Albatros excels in horizontal well-being, through immersion. Together, we change the perception of the group as a single provider of solutions for personal care.

In your journey, there are models that have marked the Megius identity in a particularly meaningful way. If you had to choose one truly iconic product, representative of your history, which would it be and why? What does that product still say today about your way of understanding the shower, the context in which it was born, and the evolution of the brand over time?

We would choose the Zen collection. It perfectly represents our DNA: minimalism, reduced profiles, and the maximum expression of glass. It was created to bring essential aesthetics into everyday life, and today it is evolving to include heat systems as well, telling the story of our transition toward total well-being better than any other model.

Between headquarters, showrooms, and international presences, Megius engages with different markets and very diverse audiences. What really changes today between the way the Italian market observes you and the way international markets read you? And which traits of your DNA remain unmistakably Italian?

The international market recognizes our ability to combine technique and aesthetics in a harmonious way. In Italy, customers greatly appreciate our flexibility in tailor-made solutions. The unmistakably Italian trait of our identity is “saper fare” — the know-how: the ability to solve complex technical problems with elegant and never ordinary solutions.

We are in 2036: Megius has gone through its fiftieth anniversary, integrated Albatros, and further redefined its universe between shower, bathroom, and wellness. Looking back at this past decade as a decisive phase in your history, which transformation would you like to be recognized as the most important?

We would like to be remembered as the company that broke down the boundaries between furniture and function, transforming the bathroom from a service room into the beating heart of domestic well-being. We would like our ability to integrate different worlds — shower, bathtub, and heat — into a single, coherent language of Italian design to be recognized.

L'articolo Megius | Mille Emozionanti Gocce In Uno Spazio: Interview with Andrea Lanza proviene da Archi & Interiors.

AIDIA – Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects has launched the second edition of the AIDIA Award 2026 “Ideas for a Changing World”, an initiative created to highlight the work of women in architecture, engineering and technical professions.

The award is open to women graduates in engineering and architecture who have completed actions, interventions, works, processes or projects capable of generating a positive impact on quality of life, work, places, organisations or communities.

After its first edition, the AIDIA Award returns with a structure divided into four main categories. In addition, it includes a Special Award promoted in collaboration with Fondazione Inarcassa and dedicated to freelance women professionals.

Applications may be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on 21 September 2026. The award ceremony is scheduled for 27 November 2026 at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome, inside the Acquario Romano, in Piazza Manfredo Fanti.

AIDIA Award 2026 and the goals of the initiative

The AIDIA Award 2026 was created to recognise professional experiences led by women that have generated tangible change through technical expertise, innovation, design quality and social, environmental and cultural responsibility.

The call is aimed at projects that have already been completed. Therefore, simple ideas, projects still in the prototyping phase or unimplemented dissertations are not eligible. This requirement clearly defines the profile of the award: AIDIA aims to promote interventions that have already produced measurable results, even when developed on a local, experimental, pilot, small or medium scale.

Furthermore, the initiative is aligned with the United Nations 2030 Agenda, with particular reference to Goal 5 – Gender Equality. This objective promotes women’s empowerment as a key factor for sustainable, fair and inclusive development.

Who can apply for the AIDIA Award 2026

The competition is reserved for women graduates in Engineering or Architecture.

Applications may be submitted individually or as part of a group. In the case of working groups, the group leader must be a woman; however, the team may also include men.

Each candidate, whether applying individually or as part of a group, may submit only one application. The project must refer to one of the categories included in the call.

Applications must concern interventions, works, processes or actions that have already been completed, published or otherwise known by the date of publication of the call. AIDIA members, members of the Judging Committee and other subjects listed among the incompatibilities in the regulations are not eligible to apply.

The categories of the AIDIA Award 2026

The second edition of the AIDIA Award is divided into four categories.

Regeneration and redevelopment

This category concerns redevelopment projects involving degraded public or private areas or properties, with particular attention to the reuse of abandoned spaces or disused buildings.

Projects will be assessed for their ability to generate new social, cultural and economic relationships within the community. As a result, the category focuses on interventions that contribute to the reactivation of places, urban contexts or territorial areas.

Environmental improvement

This section is dedicated to eco-sustainable interventions, devices or solutions capable of reducing the impact on natural resources. It also includes projects that improve energy performance, increase the use of renewable sources and contribute to decarbonisation and the reduction of environmental pollution.

The category therefore addresses sustainability applied to design, technology and the transformation processes of places.

Digital systems

The “Digital Systems” category focuses on services, applications, platforms, digital products, IT networks or innovative processes that have improved people’s lives or the functioning of public or private organisations.

The call also considers solutions capable of introducing new work models, new user experiences or new forms of collaboration, including those developed in emerging or experimental contexts.

Female managerial leadership

The fourth category is dedicated to professional experiences, in either the public or private sector, that have generated effective, inclusive, accessible or participatory leadership models.

Particular value will be given to experiences capable of creating positive and collaborative working environments, where skills and professional abilities are recognised and developed.

The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award

Alongside the four main categories, the AIDIA Award 2026 includes a Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award. This recognition is reserved for candidates who, on the date of publication of the call, are regularly registered with the National Welfare and Assistance Fund for Freelance Engineers and Architects.

The special award is designed to highlight the experience of freelance women professionals who, as project owners or managers, have assumed full technical, economic and organisational responsibility in professional processes or commissions.

Assessment will take into account professional experience, organisational and management skills, entrepreneurial ability and innovation.

The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award may be combined with the category awards. Therefore, a freelance candidate may receive both the award for her category and the special award, if she ranks first in both selections.

Awards and evaluation criteria

Each of the four categories includes a prize of 1,500 euros, before tax charges and legal withholding.

The Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award also includes a financial prize of 1,500 euros.

In addition, all winners will receive one year of free membership in the AIDIA local section closest to their place of residence.

Applications will be assessed according to four main criteria:

• impact and effects on quality of life, work or community;
• innovation;
• strategic vision;
• replicability and reproducibility.

For the Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award, the evaluation will instead focus on professional experience, organisational and management skills, entrepreneurial ability and innovation.

The maximum score is 100 points, with a minimum threshold of 60 points.

The Judging Committee

The Judging Committee is composed of eight members appointed by AIDIA.

According to the call, the committee includes:

• Arch. Anna Vella, National President of AIDIA;
• Ing. Annachiara Castagna, National Vice President of AIDIA;
• Arch. Carmen Andriani, lecturer in Architectural and Urban Design and architect;
• Dr Francesca Mariotti, President of ENEA;
• Prof. Gaetano Scamarcio, Director of the CNR Institute of Nanoscience;
• Ing. Ippolita Chiarolini, National Council of Engineers;
• Arch. Michela Alessandra Locati, National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservationists;
• a representative of Fondazione Inarcassa, member pending appointment.

The Committee will evaluate the applications received by verifying compliance with the formal requirements and assigning scores according to the criteria established in the call.

How to submit an application

Applications must be submitted using Annex A, available on the official AIDIA website.

The application must include the materials required by the call, including a biography, a photo of the candidate or working group, an identity document, a descriptive report on the nominated intervention or process, and graphic or presentation materials.

Candidates applying for the Fondazione Inarcassa Special Award must also submit documentation proving regular registration with Inarcassa, together with a dedicated descriptive report on their professional activity.

The complete application must be sent by 11:59 p.m. on 21 September 2026 to the following address:

AIDIApremio@gmail.com

The material must be sent in a single compressed folder, named after the candidate or group leader. The folder must not exceed 20 MB.

Key dates for the AIDIA Award 2026

The call for the AIDIA Award 2026 was published on 12 May 2026.

The press conference presenting the initiative was held on 13 May 2026 at the headquarters of the National Council of Engineers in Rome.

Requests for clarification may be sent to AIDIApremio@gmail.com until 30 June 2026. Answers will be published on the AIDIA website by 15 July 2026.

The deadline for submitting applications is 21 September 2026.

The award ceremony will take place on 27 November 2026 at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome, at the Acquario Romano.

AIDIA and the role of women in technical professions

AIDIA is an Italian non-profit organisation founded in 1957. It brings together women graduates in architecture and engineering and promotes women’s presence in technical fields through cultural, professional and associative activities.

With the second edition of the “Ideas for a Changing World” Award, the association confirms its commitment to giving visibility to women professionals working in architecture, engineering, the environment, digital systems, professional management and innovation.

The award represents an opportunity to bring forward projects and professional paths that have already produced tangible effects. In this way, it contributes to the transformation of territories, organisations and communities.

For complete information, the official call and application forms, please visit the official AIDIA Award 2026 page on the AIDIA website.

L'articolo AIDIA Award 2026: applications open for the second edition of “Ideas for a changing world” proviene da Archi & Interiors.

How to choose the best outdoor flooring

The first criterion to evaluate is the intended use. Outdoor flooring must withstand sun, rain, temperature changes, humidity, dirt, foot traffic, and, in some cases, even cars. The choice changes depending on whether you are designing an urban balcony, a panoramic terrace, a garden patio, an outdoor dining area, a poolside surface, or a driveway entrance.

In many residential contexts, outdoor porcelain stoneware is now one of the most complete solutions, because it combines resistance, easy cleaning, aesthetic variety, and good anti-slip performance in versions specifically designed for outdoor use. Alongside porcelain stoneware, however, natural stone, concrete, interlocking pavers, terracotta, composite wood, and draining surfaces also remain very valid options, each with specific advantages, limits, and conditions of use.

Outdoor flooring: what to evaluate before choosing the material

Before choosing between porcelain stoneware, stone, terracotta, or concrete, it is necessary to understand which performance qualities the outdoor floor must guarantee. Outdoor surfaces are much more exposed than indoor environments: they face weather conditions, wet or dirty shoes, possible water stagnation, temperature variations, UV rays, frost, leaves, dust, impacts, and loads of varying intensity.

For this reason, the best outdoor flooring is not simply the most beautiful or the most resistant in absolute terms, but the one that is most coherent with the context where it will be installed.

A fifth-floor terrace, for example, requires attention to weight, drainage, and the possibility of inspecting any systems or waterproofing membranes. A garden needs stable, draining materials that integrate with greenery. A poolside area must guarantee safety even barefoot and with constant water exposure. A driveway, instead, must withstand vehicle traffic and rest on a suitable base.

The right choice therefore comes from a combined evaluation of use, exposure, installation, maintenance, and architectural style.

Weather resistance

A good outdoor floor must maintain stability, color, and performance over time, even when exposed to rain, sun, humidity, and temperature changes. More delicate surfaces can stain, fade, absorb water, or require periodic treatments. By contrast, more compact and low-absorption materials, such as outdoor porcelain stoneware, generally offer greater resistance to weather conditions and are easier to manage in everyday maintenance.

In areas subject to low temperatures, frost resistance becomes a decisive criterion. An unsuitable or overly absorbent material can deteriorate over time, especially if water penetrates the surface and then expands when it freezes. For uncovered outdoor areas, it is therefore important to choose flooring specifically designed for outdoor use, not simple tiles intended for indoor spaces.

Anti-slip safety

Safety is one of the most important aspects when choosing outdoor flooring. A beautiful but slippery surface can become problematic in the case of rain, humidity, slopes, or the presence of a swimming pool. For terraces, balconies, walkways, ramps, and wet areas, it is therefore better to choose materials with anti-slip finishes, structured textures, and grip levels suitable for the intended use.

In commercial language, terms such as R10, R11, or R12 are often used to indicate the level of slip resistance according to specific technical tests. Without going into excessive technical detail, for many residential outdoor spaces an R11 surface is often considered a prudent choice, especially in uncovered areas, passage zones, or surfaces exposed to water. However, the rating should always be read together with intended use, slope, installation method, and manufacturer instructions.

Installation method and base

An outdoor floor does not depend only on the chosen material, but also on how it is installed. A high-quality flooring product can create problems if the base is not correct, if water does not drain properly, if slopes are insufficient, or if installation does not respect the product’s technical characteristics.

The main solutions are:

• traditional installation on screed, suitable when a stable and continuous surface is desired;
• dry installation on gravel, sand, or grass, widely used in gardens and walkways;
• raised installation on supports, especially useful for terraces, flat roofs, and surfaces where drainage must be encouraged or the underlying level must remain accessible;
• driveway installation, which requires suitable materials, adequate thicknesses, and a base designed to withstand higher loads.

This step is essential: choosing an “outdoor tile” is not enough. It is necessary to understand whether the surface will be pedestrian, driveway-suitable, draining, removable, raised, or linked to specific technical conditions.

Maintenance and cleaning

Another criterion that is often underestimated is maintenance. Some outdoor floors are highly scenic, but require protective treatments, frequent cleaning, or specific attention against stains, moss, halos, and absorption. Other materials, instead, are more practical and better resist everyday use.

Those who want an easy-to-clean surface should evaluate low-absorption materials, stain-resistant surfaces, and products compatible with common detergents. Those who choose natural stone, terracotta, or wood should consider that the material beauty of these surfaces may require greater care over time. This is not a limit, but a characteristic to understand before purchase.

Home style and continuity between indoors and outdoors

Outdoor flooring does not only have a technical function. It is also a design element that helps define the identity of the space. A terrace, patio, or paved garden can become a true extension of the home, especially when the chosen material dialogues with the interiors, facade, outdoor furniture, and landscape.

In recent years, continuity between indoors and outdoors has become a central theme in interior design. Porcelain stoneware collections, for example, often allow indoor and outdoor surfaces to be coordinated with the same aesthetic effect, changing finish and grip according to intended use. Stone-effect, concrete-effect, wood-effect, and textured surfaces make it possible to create elegant, coherent, and contemporary outdoor spaces without sacrificing practicality.

What is the best material for outdoor flooring?

There is no single best material for every outdoor space. Rather, there are materials that are better suited to specific needs. Porcelain stoneware is often the most balanced choice for those looking for resistance, aesthetics, and low maintenance. Natural stone is ideal for those who want an authentic and refined result. Concrete and interlocking pavers are widely used for courtyards, ramps, and driveways. Terracotta preserves a warm and traditional charm, while natural wood and WPC are chosen to create softer and more welcoming atmospheres.

The difference lies not only in the material itself, but in the relationship between technical performance, aesthetic result, initial cost, and durability over time.

This table helps with orientation, but the final choice should always start from the place where the flooring will be installed. A perfect material for a terrace may not be suitable for a driveway; a beautiful solution in a garden may prove impractical in a constantly wet area; a surface that is inexpensive to buy may become more costly if it requires continuous maintenance or does not age well.

Outdoor porcelain stoneware: why it is often the most complete choice

Among the most widely used materials for outdoor flooring today, outdoor porcelain stoneware is one of the most balanced solutions in terms of technical performance, aesthetic result, and ease of maintenance. It is compact, resistant, low-absorption, and available in a very wide range of effects: stone, concrete, wood, travertine, slate, terracotta, textured surfaces, and contemporary finishes.

Its main advantage is its ability to adapt to very different contexts. It can be chosen for terraces, balconies, gardens, walkways, patios, poolside areas, and, in some cases, even driveways, provided the product and installation method are suitable. The 20 mm versions are designed specifically for outdoor use and can be installed in different ways: glued on screed, dry-laid on gravel or grass, or raised on supports for terraces and flat roofs. Marazzi, Panaria, Florim, and Cotto d’Este all offer thick porcelain stoneware lines and systems for outdoor applications, with a focus on resistance, outdoor installation, and design continuity between indoors and outdoors.

From an aesthetic point of view, porcelain stoneware makes it possible to obtain the effect of more delicate natural materials, such as wood and stone, while keeping management easier. A wood-effect porcelain floor, for example, can offer visual warmth without requiring the periodic treatments typical of natural wood. A stone-effect porcelain surface can give depth and texture to a garden or terrace without the same care required by some porous natural stones. A concrete-effect surface, instead, works well in modern spaces, urban outdoor dining areas, and homes with an essential style.

However, porcelain stoneware should not be chosen generically. For outdoor use, it is necessary to verify that the surface is truly suitable for outdoor applications, that it has an anti-slip finish coherent with the context, and that the thickness is compatible with the planned installation method. A beautiful tile designed for indoor use cannot automatically be transferred to an uncovered terrace or a poolside area.

Natural stone for outdoor flooring: authentic beauty and long-lasting durability

Natural stone remains one of the most fascinating choices for outdoor floors. Travertine, quartzite, porphyry, slate, beola stone, Luserna stone, and other local varieties allow the creation of living, textured surfaces that are deeply connected to landscape and architecture. Each slab has its own veins, shades, and imperfections: precisely this uniqueness makes stone particularly suitable for villas, gardens, porticoes, historic courtyards, walkways, and high-end outdoor spaces.

Its value is not only aesthetic. A correctly chosen stone, installed to professional standards, can last for a very long time. It works well in contexts where a solid, natural material is desired — one that can age with dignity and dialogue with greenery, water, exterior walls, rendered facades, or wooden surfaces.

Stone, however, requires more attention than porcelain stoneware. Some types can be porous, absorb stains, change tone over time, or require protective treatments. The choice must therefore consider climate zone, exposure, presence of water, frost risk, surface roughness, and intended use. A stone suitable for a covered portico may not be ideal for a poolside area; a very polished finish can look elegant but may be less safe in wet zones.

For this reason, natural stone is an excellent choice when the project enhances materiality and when it is managed with awareness. It is less suitable for those looking for a completely practical, uniform, and minimal-maintenance outdoor floor.

Concrete, stamped concrete, and continuous surfaces: when they make sense

Concrete is a widely used solution for courtyards, driveways, ramps, vehicle areas, and large outdoor surfaces. It can be chosen in its most essential form, as an industrial or architectural floor, or worked as stamped concrete, decorative concrete, microcement, or continuous surface for outdoor use.

Its main advantage is solidity. If correctly designed and installed, concrete can withstand significant loads and adapt to large surfaces. Stamped concrete also makes it possible to obtain decorative effects that recall stone, slabs, planks, or more elaborate geometries, often at a lower cost than some natural flooring options.

The critical point is installation. Concrete requires correct bases, well-designed joints, adequate slopes, and suitable surface treatments. Without these elements, it can crack, stain, or create water stagnation. It is therefore not a solution to choose only to save money: it should be evaluated as a technical system, especially when the surface is driveway-suitable or highly exposed.

In contemporary residential outdoor spaces, concrete works well when a sober, continuous, almost architectural aesthetic is desired. It is suitable for modern homes, minimalist villas, geometric courtyards, and outdoor spaces where the floor must act as a neutral base for furniture, greenery, and built volumes.

Interlocking pavers and driveway flooring: the practical choice for courtyards and driveways

Interlocking pavers are among the most practical solutions for driveways, parking areas, vehicle entrances, courtyards, and surfaces exposed to car traffic. They are modular, resistant, and easy to replace in case of localized damage. Their strength lies in the combination of robustness, relatively accessible cost, and installation versatility.

Compared with a continuous surface, interlocking pavers can better manage certain ground stresses and offer good practicality in the functional areas of the home. There are more technical, more draining, more decorative, or more essential solutions, to be chosen according to the architectural context.

The main limit is aesthetic, at least in more traditional versions. In a high-end project, a poorly chosen paver can weaken the overall image of the outdoor space. For this reason, when working on contemporary homes or carefully designed gardens, it is important to choose formats, colors, and installation patterns that are coherent with the architecture. Neutral tones, larger modules, and orderly geometries can make this solution much more elegant than the classic image of a standard paved courtyard.

Outdoor terracotta: warm charm, but maintenance to consider

Outdoor terracotta is a material with a strong identity. It recalls Mediterranean homes, porticoes, sunny terraces, country villas, and warm, lived-in architecture. It has a visual quality that few materials can offer: color, irregularity, softness, and craftsmanship.

It is ideal when the floor must participate in the atmosphere of the home rather than act as a neutral surface. It works well in rustic, traditional, Mediterranean contexts or in projects seeking a more authentic relationship with material. Its appearance changes with light, time, and use, becoming part of the story of the space.

Terracotta, however, is not the simplest choice for those who want a worry-free outdoor floor. It can be more absorbent than other materials, requires protective treatments, and must be chosen in versions suitable for outdoor use, especially in areas exposed to frost or rain. Here too, product quality, treatment, installation, and maintenance make the real difference.

Natural wood and WPC: visual warmth for terraces, decks, and relaxation areas

Natural wood is one of the most elegant solutions for terraces, decks, poolside areas, and outdoor relaxation zones. It has a strong tactile and visual comfort: it warms the space, dialogues with greenery, and creates an immediate sense of welcome. It is particularly suitable for outdoor projects where the floor must not only resist, but also create atmosphere.

Its beauty, however, requires care. Natural wood exposed to sun, water, and climate changes tends to change color, may turn grey, expand, move, or require periodic treatments. This is not a defect: it is the natural behavior of the material. It becomes a problem only when wood is chosen while expecting the same stability as a ceramic surface.

WPC, or composite wood, was created precisely to offer a more practical alternative. It gives a warm effect similar to wood, but with lower maintenance requirements. It is widely used for decks, terraces, poolside areas, and walkways. Here too, however, quality varies greatly from product to product: density, color stability, heat resistance, fixing system, and installation strongly affect the final result.

For this reason, wood and WPC are correct choices when a softer, more domestic, and convivial outdoor space is desired. They should instead be evaluated carefully in highly exposed areas, high-traffic surfaces, or contexts where minimum maintenance is the absolute priority.

Brands and collections to watch for outdoor porcelain stoneware flooring

When evaluating outdoor porcelain stoneware flooring, it can be useful to observe the work of some Italian brands specialized in ceramic surfaces. This is not a ranking, but a set of useful design references for understanding how the market is interpreting outdoor spaces today: increased thicknesses, anti-slip finishes, indoor-outdoor continuity, textured effects, and more flexible installation systems.

Marazzi offers several 20 mm outdoor porcelain stoneware collections with stone, concrete, and wood effects designed for terraces, gardens, and walkways. Useful examples to observe include Plaster20, Stony20, Rocking20, Treverkhome20, Mystone Limestone20, and Sentieri20, all developed around increased thickness and outdoor use.

Florim works on porcelain stoneware for outdoor areas with surfaces suitable for gardens, terraces, patios, and open-air spaces. The 20 mm slabs are presented as robust and versatile solutions, while collections such as Walks/1.0, Matières, SensiTerre, Match-Up, and Rawtech show different aesthetic directions: from contemporary stone to concrete effects and more textured surfaces.

Atlas Concorde offers outdoor porcelain stoneware tiles with a range of effects and finishes designed to create continuity between indoor and outdoor spaces. The brand communicates in particular the theme of In&Out design and Sensitech technology, developed to combine aesthetic result and surface performance in flooring.

Cotto d’Este is a high-end reference for those looking for outdoor ceramic surfaces with a carefully curated aesthetic. The brand presents 20 mm porcelain stoneware as a solution for residential and public outdoor flooring, with features related to resistance to frost, temperature changes, stains, salt, and slipping. Among the collections to observe for outdoor use are Blend Stone, Lithos, Pietra d’Iseo, Limestone, Solaris, and Legend.

Panaria works on outdoor spaces with 20 mm porcelain stoneware, anti-slip surfaces, and collections designed for terraces, gardens, walkways, poolside areas, and driveway surfaces when correctly installed. Examples cited by the brand include Pierre Des Rêves, Perpetual Travertino, Surround, Borealis, Revel, and Bioarch, useful for reading different trends: stone effect, travertine, ceramic wood, and natural surfaces reinterpreted through a technical approach.

These examples help reveal a clear trend: contemporary outdoor flooring is no longer conceived as a simple resistant surface, but as an integral part of the architectural project. It must withstand rain, sun, frost, and everyday use, but it must also build visual continuity with the home, enhance outdoor furniture, dialogue with the landscape, and make the outdoor space truly livable.

L'articolo Best outdoor flooring: materials, performance and key criteria for choosing the right one proviene da Archi & Interiors.

In recent years, Milan has built a new image of itself through regenerated districts, residential towers, corporate headquarters, hotels, hybrid spaces, high-end domestic interiors, workplaces, and new urban landscapes. It is a city that changes rapidly, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes with evident contradictions, but always with a design force that is hard to ignore.

Talking about architecture firms in Milan therefore means observing one of the most intense laboratories of contemporary architecture in Italy: a wide, competitive, layered scene where major international names, multidisciplinary studios, independent practices, and designers specialized in urban regeneration, hospitality, workplace, residential design, interior architecture, and public spaces coexist.

This selection brings together 30 architecture firms in Milan to know. It is not a ranking, nor an exhaustive census, but an editorial map for reading the city through those who help shape its identity: studios that differ in scale, language, and approach, yet share the ability to interpret Milan as a living, complex space in constant transformation.

Selection criteria

The selection of architecture firms in Milan was built as an editorial map, not as a ranking or an exhaustive census. We considered studios based in Milan, or with a significant design connection to the city, evaluating the quality and continuity of their portfolio, professional recognition, the presence of documented projects, their contribution to contemporary architectural culture, and their ability to represent different areas of design: urban regeneration, residential architecture, hospitality, workplace, public space, cultural architecture, interior architecture, and the transformation of existing buildings.

The goal is to offer an authoritative and plural view of the Milanese scene, aware that every editorial selection remains open to updates, additions, and qualified new recommendations.

30 architecture firms in Milan to know

ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel

ACPV Architects Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel is one of the studios that best expresses Milan’s dual design identity: on one side, the culture of architecture; on the other, the world of design, business, hospitality, and interiors understood as an integral part of built space. Founded in 2000 by Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel, the studio now defines itself as an international collective and brings together more than 230 professionals, with a structure led by 14 partners.

Its presence in a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan is natural, because ACPV works exactly on the threshold that has made the city a recognizable design laboratory around the world. Buildings, headquarters, hotels, residences, retail spaces, and interior architecture are not treated as separate fields, but as parts of one unified design culture. It is a vision in which architecture does not end with the external form of the building, but continues through interiors, materials, light, circulation, and the way people move through and inhabit space.

In Milan, this ability to connect urban scale and detail emerges with particular strength in projects linked to corporate environments and new workplaces. The recent Casa Moncler Headquarters, in the Symbiosis district, is a significant example: a complex designed by ACPV that works on a former industrial area of the city and interprets the corporate headquarters as identity architecture, a place of relationships, and part of a broader urban transformation.

Within the map of contemporary architecture in Milan, ACPV therefore represents a precise design direction: sophisticated, international, deeply connected to the culture of Italian design, yet able to deal with complex programs and global clients. It is a studio that describes Milan not simply as a capital of image, but as a city where architecture, interiors, industry, and the culture of living continue to influence one another.

Stefano Boeri Architetti

Stefano Boeri Architetti is one of the most recognizable names in contemporary architecture in Milan, not only for the iconic power of Bosco Verticale, but also for bringing a decisive topic to the center of the urban debate: the relationship between city, nature, density, and quality of life. The studio is based in Milan, with offices also in Shanghai and Tirana, and works across architecture, urban planning, urban regeneration, and territorial strategies connected to urban forestry.

Bosco Verticale, built in the Porta Nuova-Isola district and completed in 2014, remains one of the most emblematic projects of recent Milan: two residential towers conceived as a prototype of biodiversity architecture, where vegetation is not a decorative element but a structural part of the building’s identity. The project integrates trees, shrubs, and plants into a vertical system that has made a new possible relationship between building and urban nature visible internationally.

However, its importance is not only visual. Bosco Verticale has helped change the way Milan tells its own story: from an industrial and business-oriented city to a laboratory of new relationships between the built environment and the plant landscape. It is an architecture that has generated imitations, discussions, enthusiasm, and criticism, but precisely for this reason it has become a stable part of the collective imagination of the contemporary city.

In this selection of architecture firms in Milan, Stefano Boeri Architetti represents the most visionary and urban dimension of design: one that attempts to imagine buildings and cities not as isolated objects, but as habitable ecosystems. Its work speaks of density, greenery, public space, metropolitan transformation, and new forms of coexistence between human beings, architecture, and the environment.

Park Associati

Park Associati is one of the most significant studios for understanding the architectural transformation of Milan in recent years. Founded in 2000 by Filippo Pagliani and Michele Rossi, the studio is based in Via Garofalo, Milan, and presents itself as an interdisciplinary collective of architects, designers, and researchers. Its activity spans architecture, urban design, interior design, product design, and above all interventions that transform existing buildings.

The work of Park Associati is particularly interesting because it operates in one of the most sensitive areas of the contemporary city: the relationship between built heritage and new uses. In Milan, where an important part of design is connected to the conversion of industrial, office, and modern buildings, the studio has developed a recognizable research path around adaptive reuse, understood not as simple formal recovery, but as the possibility of reactivating existing architecture through new programs, new performance levels, and new relationships with the context.

An emblematic project is the redevelopment of La Serenissima, the former Palazzo Campari designed in the 1960s by the Soncini brothers. Park Associati transformed the building into a more functional and energy-efficient structure while maintaining a dialogue with the original layout. It is a useful example for understanding the studio’s method: not erasing the memory of the building, but updating it through measured work on the facade, performance, use, and architectural identity.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, Park Associati represents a design direction that is highly consistent with the city: working on what already exists, transforming without simplifying, reading the potential of existing buildings, and returning them to a new urban life. It is a studio that tells Milan not through isolated icons, but through continuity between memory, innovation, and transformation.

Cino Zucchi Architetti

Cino Zucchi Architetti is one of the most important studios for understanding the relationship between Milan and its recent architecture. The studio’s work moves between architecture, landscape, and urban design, with particular attention to the built city, the layering of places, and the dialogue between new intervention and existing context. The studio presents itself as one of the leading European practices in the fields of architecture, landscape, and urban design.

Its presence in this selection is essential because Cino Zucchi Architetti represents a very Milanese design approach: not architecture as an isolated gesture, but as an interpretation of a complex city made of fragments, memories, transformations, and continuity. In its work, design does not erase the context; it reads it, measures it, and updates it through a contemporary language.

Among its most significant Milanese projects are the residences of Nuovo Portello, built in the former Fiera di Milano area. Developed between 2002 and 2008, the project includes residential buildings that help shape a new urban sequence between square, park, and the edge of the old fairgrounds.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, Cino Zucchi Architetti brings a cultured and deeply urban dimension. It is a studio that allows Milan to be read not only through major icons or new skylines, but also through more subtle work on parts of the city: edges, insertions, thresholds between past and present, and architectures capable of building continuity without giving up transformation.

Piuarch

Piuarch is one of the most recognizable Milanese studios for understanding the relationship between architecture, city, fashion, work, and urban regeneration. Founded in Milan in 1996, the studio works in architecture and urban planning, with an activity that spans offices, retail, hospitality, residences, masterplans, and urban renewal projects.

Its presence in a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan is especially coherent because Piuarch works on one of the strongest identities of the contemporary city: the ability to transform production sites, workplaces, and architectures connected to the world of brands into active parts of the urban fabric. An emblematic project is the Gucci Hub, the redevelopment of the former Caproni factory in Milan, where the recovery of industrial architecture intersects with new functions for offices, showrooms, events, dining, and activities connected to the fashion house.

Piuarch describes a Milan where architecture and design are not separate worlds, but languages that influence one another. Its work is positioned between industrial memory, corporate spaces, fashion culture, and urban quality, offering a very precise vision of the city: international, productive, and still able to recognize value in its existing buildings.

Barreca & La Varra

Barreca & La Varra is an architecture and urban design studio founded in Milan in 2008 by Gianandrea Barreca and Giovanni La Varra, after their experience as co-founders of Boeri Studio together with Stefano Boeri. The studio works on urban projects, public and private architecture, residential buildings, complex programs, and interventions connected to the transformation of the contemporary city.

Its inclusion in this map of Milanese studios is important because Barreca & La Varra helps read a decisive part of Milan in recent years: urban densification, new residential developments, changing districts, and the relationship between architecture, public space, and metropolitan landscape. It is a studio that deals with the real scale of the city, where design is not only about the individual building, but about how an intervention contributes to creating new urban sequences.

In the Milanese scene, Barreca & La Varra represents a solid design approach, connected to the built city and its transformation processes. Its architecture works on continuity, proportion, density, and urban recognizability, all central themes for understanding Milan as a residential and metropolitan laboratory.

Lombardini22

Lombardini22 is one of the most structured practices in the Milanese panorama. It defines itself as an architecture, engineering, and consulting company for Real Estate, based in Milan and active across the main sectors of contemporary design. Its organization integrates architecture, interior design, engineering, cost control, branding, marketing, and communication, with a team of over 300 professionals according to available industry profiles.

The presence of Lombardini22 in this selection is necessary because it describes a profound transformation of the profession: architecture no longer as an isolated practice, but as an integrated system of expertise. In the Milanese context, this approach is particularly relevant because the city is a laboratory of complex projects: offices, hospitality, retail, living, hybrid spaces, Real Estate interventions, and transformations connected to new models of work.

Lombardini22 therefore represents the most organized, interdisciplinary, and complexity-oriented side of Milanese design. Its work allows architecture to be read as experience, performance, identity, and function, as well as built form.

One Works

One Works is a company based in Milan where architecture, design, and engineering work in an integrated way. The studio operates on complex projects, with expertise that includes architecture, urban design, infrastructure, aviation, mobility, interior design, and engineering. The official website indicates its Milan office in Via Sciesa, with additional offices in other cities including Rome, Venice, London, and Dubai.

Its presence in the selection broadens the narrative beyond Milan’s residential, interior architecture, and corporate design scene. One Works represents a more infrastructural and territorial dimension of design: airports, mobility hubs, urban systems, transit spaces, and architectures that require technical capacity, vision, and control of complex processes.

In a city like Milan, increasingly connected to international flows, mobility, events, and metropolitan transformations, One Works offers a less decorative and more structural face of contemporary architecture: one in which design shapes connections, movement, and the infrastructures of urban life.

Progetto CMR

Progetto CMR is a Milanese architecture, engineering, and design studio founded in 1994. Led by Massimo Roj, the company works with an integrated design approach and has developed experience in national and international markets, focusing on architecture, workplace, urban design, hospitality, retail, and sustainability.

Its inclusion in the selection is particularly significant because Progetto CMR represents a central part of contemporary Milan: workplaces, office buildings, hybrid environments, and spaces designed around the organizational transformations of companies. In this sense, design is not understood only as architectural form, but as a device capable of changing the way people work, meet, and experience professional environments.

Progetto CMR brings to the Milanese map a pragmatic and structured vision of architecture, where technology, sustainability, spatial organization, and quality of experience become parts of the same design system.

AMDL CIRCLE / Michele De Lucchi

AMDL CIRCLE, led by Michele De Lucchi, is a multidisciplinary studio based in Milan, in Via Varese. The studio’s work spans architecture, design, cultural spaces, workplaces, installations, and design research, with an approach described by sources dedicated to the studio as humanistic and interdisciplinary.

In a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan, AMDL CIRCLE occupies a special position. It is not only a design studio, but a cultural laboratory that reflects on the meaning of spaces, objects, and collective places. Its research often moves along a fertile boundary: the one between architecture, design, and thought on how environments influence human relationships.

Michele De Lucchi’s presence in Milanese design culture is central. His work allows us to describe a Milan less tied only to real-estate performance and closer to the intellectual, artisanal, and symbolic dimension of architecture. AMDL CIRCLE brings to the article a cultured, recognizable voice deeply rooted in the history of Italian design.

Matteo Thun & Partners

Matteo Thun & Partners is an architecture and design studio based in Milan, founded in 1984 by Matteo Thun. Today the studio is led by Matteo Thun and his partners and works with an interdisciplinary team across architecture, interior design, product design, and branding, with offices in Milan and Munich.

Its presence in the selection is justified by the studio’s ability to move continuously across different sectors while maintaining strong design recognizability. Hospitality, healthcare, residential, offices, retail, and product design are areas in which Matteo Thun & Partners has built an international practice based on quality, simplicity, attention to context, and the human dimension of space.

In the story of Milanese architecture, Matteo Thun & Partners represents a design line in which architecture and design cannot be separated. It is an important presence because it shows how Milan continues to be a place where the design of buildings, interiors, and objects coexist within the same culture.

Studio Marco Piva

Studio Marco Piva is a Milanese studio active in urban design, architecture, interior design, industrial design, hospitality, residential, retail, and heritage buildings. The official website documents an international portfolio that includes hospitality, residential, urban design, and product design projects, while the studio profile describes an activity organized across different design scales.

Its presence in a selection of architecture firms in Milan is coherent because Studio Marco Piva works on a highly recognizable dimension of the city: the relationship between architecture, hospitality, high-end residential design, contract, and image culture. This is not interior design understood as decoration, but an approach that integrates architecture, interiors, materials, identity, and complex uses.

In this sense, Studio Marco Piva describes an international Milan oriented toward the design of experience: hotels, residences, hospitality environments, and spaces where design becomes part of a broader narrative. It brings to the article a component closely connected to hospitality and the dialogue between architecture and interior architecture.

Vudafieri-Saverino Partners

Vudafieri-Saverino Partners is a studio founded and led by architects Tiziano Vudafieri and Claudio Saverino, with offices in Milan and Shanghai. Its work spans architecture, interior design, retail, hospitality, restaurants, workplaces, and spaces of everyday life, with particular attention to the relationship between function, atmosphere, and the identity of places.

Its inclusion is coherent with the article’s approach because the studio does not belong only to the decorative interior dimension. It works on architecture and interior architecture for complex spaces, often connected to hospitality, retail, and dining. These are very Milanese fields, because they describe the city as a place of design, cultural consumption, experience, and relationships.

Vudafieri-Saverino Partners brings to the selection a design sensitivity different from that of major corporate or infrastructural studios. Its work allows Milan to be read through environments where space is built as a narrative: disciplined, functional, but also able to produce atmosphere, memory, and recognizability.

Scandurra Studio Architettura

Scandurra Studio Architettura is a studio based in Milan, in Viale Stelvio, founded in 2001 by Alessandro Scandurra. Its activity moves between architecture, urban transformation, interiors, and product design, with research oriented toward the relationship between space, experience, time, and visual culture.

Its presence in the selection is important because Scandurra Studio allows us to describe a Milanese design culture made of architecture, city, and spatial culture. It is not a studio to be read only through a functional category, but through research that moves between buildings, interiors, urban transformations, and the identity of places.

Within a map of architecture firms in Milan, Scandurra Studio represents a contemporary and recognizable voice: attentive to the quality of spatial experience, but also to the role of architecture within broader processes of transformation.

Beretta Associati

Beretta Associati is an architecture studio based in Milan, in Via Tranquillo Cremona, founded by Gianmaria and Roberto Beretta and supported by more than fifty years of experience in design at different scales. The studio’s official website places emphasis on the relationship between experience, tradition, and innovation, with an activity focused on architectural design across different fields.

Its presence in a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan is important because it introduces a dimension of professional continuity. Milan is not made only of studios born during the most recent season of urban regeneration, but also of practices that have accompanied the evolution of the city’s residential, office, and urban fabric over time.

Beretta Associati describes a less spectacular, but essential, part of Milanese architectural culture: one based on method, technical expertise, attention to detail, and the ability to work within complex design processes. It is a studio that restores the value of the profession as a continuous, rooted practice built over time.

Caputo Partnership International

Caputo Partnership International is a Milan-based studio active in architecture, urban design, landscape, and interior design. Industry sources describe its activity as mainly oriented toward urban and architectural scale, with applications also in landscape, public space, and interiors.

Its inclusion in the Milanese map is coherent because it allows the article to describe a broad dimension of design: not only the building, but also the city, open space, collective systems, and public and private functions. Caputo Partnership International works in the territory where architecture and urban planning meet, addressing programs that require vision, control of scale, and the ability to read transformations in the context.

In a city like Milan, where urban processes are often connected to complex interventions and new relationships between buildings, streets, landscape, and public space, the studio represents a significant presence. Its profile helps keep the article anchored not only to image, but also to planning and the construction of the city.

Asti Architetti

Asti Architetti is a Milanese studio founded in 2004 by Paolo Asti, an architect trained at the Politecnico di Milano. The studio is based in Via Sant’Orsola and works mainly across residential, tertiary, and commercial projects, with particular attention to integrated architectural design and the redevelopment of historic buildings in the heart of Milan.

Its work is especially interesting because it focuses on one of the most delicate themes of the contemporary city: the transformation of existing buildings. Asti Architetti operates within Milan’s historic fabric with interventions aimed at giving new life to buildings, updating their functions, performance, and uses without erasing their urban presence.

Within the selection of architecture firms in Milan, Asti Architetti represents a very precise line: redevelopment as a design, technical, and cultural practice. It is a useful studio for reading a Milan that changes not only through new buildings, but also through the patient reinvention of its built heritage.

LPA – Longo Palmarini Architecture & Partners

LPA – Longo Palmarini Architecture & Partners is a Milan-based studio active across architecture, interior architecture, residential design, hospitality, and high-end projects. Founded by Giovanni Longo and Alessandro Palmarini, the studio works on interventions where architectural design dialogues with the quality of interiors, materials, and the living experience.

Its presence in the selection is coherent because LPA does not treat interiors as simple decoration, but as part of a broader design dimension, where architecture, interior space, materials, and everyday use are handled as parts of one process. The project does not stop at spatial layout, but enters into the details of relationships between form, function, atmosphere, and the identity of the place.

In a city like Milan, where high-end residences, hospitality, and the culture of living have a strong weight, LPA represents a professional line connected to the quality of private and hospitality spaces. Its profile helps describe a more discreet Milan, made of designed interiors, transformed buildings, and environments created with attention to detail.

Locatelli Partners

Locatelli Partners is an architecture and design studio with offices in Milan and New York, led by Massimiliano Locatelli and Giovanna Cornelio. Its history originates from CLS Architetti, a Milanese practice founded in the 1990s, which became Locatelli Partners in 2018.

The studio’s work spans architecture, interior design, residences, retail, hospitality, offices, and custom projects, with an approach in which the relationship with place and cultural context becomes an essential part of the design process. This is not interior design understood as simple decoration, but a broader research into space: material, proportions, details, memory of places, and ways of living.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, Locatelli Partners represents a sophisticated and recognizable dimension of contemporary design. Its architecture often works on the threshold between built space and interiors, between private living and spatial identity, between contemporary language and material culture.

The presence of the studio in this selection allows us to describe a cultured and international Milan, where architecture, design, and the culture of living continue to dialogue with hospitality, retail, art, and custom production.

storagemilano

storagemilano is an architecture and design studio founded in Milan in 2002 by Barbara Ghidoni, Marco Donati, and Michele Pasini. The studio works from the architectural scale down to product design, with attention to composition, details, materials, and forms.

Its presence in the selection is coherent because storagemilano does not belong only to the decorative interior dimension, but works across a broader territory where architecture, design, commercial spaces, residences, and experiential environments meet. It is a studio that represents an important part of contemporary Milan: one where design builds atmospheres, identities, and recognizable places without losing its relationship with the structure of space.

In a selection of architecture firms in Milan, storagemilano brings a more expressive and material component, connected to design culture and to the city’s ability to turn interiors into narrative places. Its presence makes the selection less corporate and closer to research on spatial languages.

studio wok

studio wok is an architecture studio based in Milan, founded by Marcello Bondavalli, Nicola Brenna, and Carlo Alberto Tagliabue. Since 2012, it has focused its research on architecture, design, and landscape, with particular attention to the quality of living. The official website indicates its office in Via Raffaele Parravicini.

Its inclusion in the selection is important because studio wok represents a generation of Milanese studios less connected to large-scale real estate and more attentive to the dimension of habitat. Design is understood as a relationship between space, materials, landscape, everyday use, and the quality of the living experience.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, studio wok brings a contemporary, precise, and recognizable voice. It is a practice that allows the city to be described also through more measured interventions, domestic spaces, places for social life, and architectures capable of working on the concrete quality of living.

Andrea Maffei Architects

Andrea Maffei Architects is the studio founded by architect Andrea Maffei, who graduated in architecture in Florence in 1994 and moved to Tokyo in 1997 to work in Arata Isozaki’s atelier. The studio is based in Milan, in Via Brera, and works on architecture, design, and urban visions, with strong attention to public buildings and real estate.

The connection with Milan is particularly evident in the Isozaki Tower at CityLife, designed by Arata Isozaki and Andrea Maffei. The official CityLife website identifies it as the tallest building in Italy, at 202 meters high, and attributes the project to Isozaki and Maffei.

Within the selection of architecture firms in Milan, Andrea Maffei Architects represents a dimension connected to large scale, international dialogue, and the relationship between Italian design culture and the rigor learned through Japanese experience. Its presence allows us to describe a vertical, business-oriented, metropolitan Milan, but also the role of Italian architects in building some of its most recent symbols.

DFA Partners

DFA Partners is an architecture studio based in Milan, founded by Daniele Fiori in 2012. Industry sources describe the studio as a practice where Fiori has brought together long professional experience in the field of design, with activities connected to architecture, planning, real estate, and urban redevelopment.

Its presence in the selection is coherent because DFA Partners works on a concrete dimension of Milan’s transformation: private construction, recovery of former industrial areas, new uses, residential, and commercial projects. These are themes very close to the city’s evolution, especially in districts where architectural design intersects with regeneration and real estate dynamics.

Within a map of architecture firms in Milan, DFA Partners helps describe the operational and transformative side of the profession: the field where architecture, development, urban reuse, and spatial quality must find a credible balance. It brings into the selection a perspective connected to a city that changes through specific interventions, recovery projects, and new functional programs.

AOUMM

AOUMM is an architecture studio based in Milan, led by Luca Astorri, Riccardo Balzarotti, Rossella Locatelli, and Matteo Poli. Its activity spans architecture, urban planning, interiors, exhibition, and landscape design, with an approach that integrates research, design experimentation, and attention to context.

Its presence in the selection is coherent because AOUMM represents a generation of Milanese studios able to work across different scales, from urban projects to collective spaces, from interiors to exhibition design, and up to interventions connected to the social dimension of architecture. The project is not understood as a standard solution, but as a process of investigation, relationship, and construction of meaning around places.

Among its most recent and significant works is Punto Luce Gallaratese, a Save the Children socio-educational center inaugurated in Milan in 2025. The project clearly expresses an important direction of the studio: architecture as civic infrastructure, capable of generating spaces for education, care, encounter, and community growth.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, AOUMM introduces a contemporary, cultured voice attentive to the public dimension of design. It is a practice that allows Milan to be read not only through large real estate or corporate interventions, but also through more measured architectures capable of acting on the social quality of urban space.

DAP studio

DAP studio is an associated architecture studio based in Milan, founded in 1992 through the collaboration between Elena Sacco and Paolo Danelli, both graduates of the Faculty of Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. The studio works across different scales of intervention, dealing with architecture, living spaces, workplaces, cultural projects, urban design, and environmental design.

Its presence in the selection is important because DAP studio represents a design approach attentive to the relationship between architecture, use, and community. It does not work on the image of the building as an isolated element, but on the ability of design to respond to the needs of those who use it, creating spaces capable of transforming the context in which they are inserted.

In the panorama of architecture firms in Milan, DAP studio introduces a civic and measured dimension of design: buildings and spaces conceived for living, working, meeting, and accessing culture. It is a practice that makes it possible to read Milan not only through major urban or corporate interventions, but also through rooted design work attentive to human scale and the concrete quality of environments.

Onsitestudio

Onsitestudio is an architecture studio based in Milan, in Via Pier Candido Decembrio. The official website describes it as an architectural practice based in Milan and made up of a collective of architects, with over fifteen years of continuous collaboration and research founded on design precision, contextual awareness, and attention to the contemporary city.

Its presence in the selection is particularly strong because Onsitestudio represents one of the Milanese practices most coherent with an idea of cultured, urban, and measured architecture. The studio’s work engages with buildings, places, and transformations without resorting to loud gestures, but through careful control of proportions, materials, and the relationship with context.

A useful project for reading the studio’s relationship with Milan is the Duca d’Aosta Hotel, an intervention in Piazza Duca d’Aosta, documented as an Onsitestudio project on Divisare. Its location, facing one of the city’s most intense urban nodes, makes clear the studio’s interest in the points of contact between architecture, urban infrastructure, and public space.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, Onsitestudio brings a precise voice: one of a design practice that observes the city with critical attention, works on the built environment, and produces architectures capable of entering the context without giving up a strong contemporary identity.

Degli Esposti Architetti

Degli Esposti Architetti is an architecture studio based in Milan, founded in 2006 by Lorenzo Degli Esposti and Paolo Lazza. The official website presents it as a partnership active in architecture, urban planning, and infrastructural design, with its office in Via Mauro Macchi.

Its presence in the article is highly coherent because the studio works on a strongly urban dimension of design. Documented projects include residential interventions and Milanese works such as Residenze Carlo Erba, Casa Tersicore, Casa Selene, Casa Calipso, Casa Eurinome, as well as competitions and masterplans in Italy and abroad.

Degli Esposti Architetti allows the article to describe a Milan less connected to architecture as image and closer to research on the city, the urban building, continuity with Milanese modernity, and the forms of contemporary living. It is a studio that introduces an important theoretical and design component into the selection, based on the relationship between urban analysis, built architecture, and disciplinary reflection.

Within the panorama of architecture firms in Milan, its presence helps make the selection more cultured and less predictable: not only major corporate names or studios with strong media recognizability, but also practices that work on the language of the urban building and on the quality of the built city.

FTA | Filippo Taidelli Architetto

FTA | Filippo Taidelli Architetto is a multidisciplinary architecture and design studio based in Milan, founded in 2005 by Filippo Taidelli. The official website and professional profiles of the studio highlight work oriented toward sustainability, energy redevelopment, urban retrofit, and healthcare architecture.

Its inclusion in the selection is solid because FTA works on a very current dimension of design: buildings and spaces conceived in relation to well-being, energy efficiency, health, and environmental quality. Industry sources indicate an activity that includes residential, commercial, office, service, mixed-use, exhibition, and industrial design projects, developed in Italy and abroad.

A particularly recognizable area of the studio’s work is healthcare and education. Among the most representative projects is the Humanitas University Campus, in the Humanitas area south of Milan, conceived as an infrastructure for education, research, and health.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, FTA represents a precise design line: architecture as infrastructure for well-being, education, care, and sustainability. It is an important presence because it broadens the narrative beyond residential design, hospitality, and workplace, bringing into the article the theme of spaces for health, research, and environmental redevelopment.

Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia

Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia is an international architecture, urban planning, and design studio with offices in Genoa, Milan, and Paris. Its activity develops across redevelopment projects, new buildings, and integrated design, working with public and private clients in Italy and abroad.

Its presence in a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan is coherent because the studio has a Milan office and a recognized design practice, capable of moving across different scales: from building to city, from public space to residential design, from architecture for culture and education to projects of urban transformation.

In the work of Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia, there is a clear research focus on material, light, color, and the relationship between architecture and context. The project is not treated as an isolated object, but as part of a broader narrative, where built space, memory of places, and collective dimension interact constantly.

Within the map of architecture firms in Milan, Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia introduces an authorial and recognizable voice: a studio that combines urban culture, Mediterranean sensitivity, and the ability to engage with complex programs, while keeping the relationship between architecture, city, and people’s lives central.

LAND

LAND – Landscape Architecture Nature Development is an international landscape architecture studio founded in Milan in 1990 by Andreas Kipar and Giovanni Sala. Today, it works as a landscape consultancy on cities, territories, and open spaces, with a multidisciplinary team made up of landscape architects, architects, urban planners, agronomists, engineers, and researchers.

Its inclusion in a selection dedicated to architecture firms in Milan should be read with precision: LAND is not a generalist architecture studio, but a central practice for understanding the role of landscape, public space, and environmental regeneration in contemporary urban transformation.

The studio’s work develops from territorial planning to the design of open spaces, with an approach oriented toward sustainability, climate resilience, and the reconnection between people and nature. In a city like Milan, where the theme of urban greenery and the quality of collective spaces has become increasingly relevant, LAND represents a particularly significant presence.

Within the map of Milanese studios, LAND introduces an essential dimension: landscape architecture as cultural, environmental, and urban infrastructure. Its presence allows Milan to be read not only through buildings and interiors, but also through ground, parks, public spaces, and green systems that help define the quality of the contemporary city.

L'articolo Architecture in Milan: 30 Studios shaping the contemporary city proviene da Archi & Interiors.

Their history says a great deal about how the relationship between retail, territory, tourism, and desire has changed. First came factory stores, connected to production and industrial districts. Then came the outlet village model: no longer just a place to buy for less, but a destination built around an experience.

The first major symbol of this transformation in Italy is Serravalle Designer Outlet, opened in 2000 in Serravalle Scrivia, Piedmont. Today, Serravalle is still the main reference point in the sector: it was the first Italian designer outlet, the largest outlet in Italy, and one of the leading outlet centers in Europe in terms of size, recognition, and appeal. McArthurGlen identifies it as the first center of its kind in Italy and as the largest designer outlet in Europe.

But how many outlets are there in Italy today? And which are the largest? According to the most recent data available on the Italian outlet market, the country currently has 33 structured outlet centers, with a total surface area of around 750,000 square meters of GLA, meaning gross leasable area. Rather than being in a phase of new expansion, the market seems to have entered a phase of maturity: it no longer grows only through new openings, but through identity, experience quality, management, positioning, and the ability to attract flows of visitors.

What was the first outlet opened in Italy?

The first outlet in Italy, in the modern sense of a designer outlet village, was Serravalle Designer Outlet, opened in Serravalle Scrivia, in the province of Alessandria, in 2000.

Its opening marked the arrival in Italy of a retail model that was different from both the traditional store and the classic shopping center. Serravalle was not created as a simple collection of stores, but as a destination: a place designed to bring together brands, services, restaurants, pedestrian routes, squares, and a shopping experience organized like a small retail town.

According to DEA Real Estate Advisor, Serravalle Designer Outlet opened in September 2000 and represents McArthurGlen’s largest development in Europe, with a GLA of 51,500 square meters.

Its location was decisive. Serravalle Scrivia sits in a strategic area between Milan, Genoa, and Turin. This is not a minor geographical detail, but part of the model itself. An outlet village works when it intercepts large catchment areas, tourist flows, and extra-urban mobility.

Before outlet villages: from factory stores to retail destinations

To understand the birth of outlets in Italy, it is important to distinguish between a factory store, a factory outlet center, and an outlet village.

A factory store is historically linked to a single brand or company. It is often located near the place of production and has a direct function: selling samples, leftover stock, end-of-line products, or discounted items.

The factory outlet center introduces a different scale: not a single brand, but several brands gathered within an organized structure, with unified retail management.

The outlet village takes this model even further. It becomes a designed commercial landscape: streets, facades, squares, food areas, parking, services, visual identity, and pedestrian paths. People no longer go there only “to buy”; they go there to spend time.

This shift is what makes the phenomenon interesting also from an architectural and cultural point of view. The outlet village is not only a response to the desire for convenience, but a spatial construction of desire: it promises accessibility, recognizable brands, an orderly atmosphere, leisure time, and a simplified form of urban experience.

What is the largest outlet in Italy?

The largest outlet in Italy is Serravalle Designer Outlet, with around 51,500 square meters of GLA. It is also the first designer outlet opened in the country and is identified by McArthurGlen as the largest designer outlet in Europe.

Its scale is not only about surface area. Serravalle has become a reference point because, over time, it has built a strong and recognizable image, capable of attracting Italian consumers, international tourists, and visitors from major cities in Northern Italy.

It is an outlet, but it also works as a destination. This is the central point: large contemporary outlets no longer compete only on price, but on their ability to generate time spent on site, experience, services, and storytelling.

Other large Italian outlets include Valmontone Outlet, Scalo Milano Outlet & More, Puglia Outlet Village, Franciacorta Outlet Village, Sicilia Outlet Village, Vicolungo The Style Outlets, La Reggia Designer Outlet, Noventa di Piave Designer Outlet, and Castel Romano Designer Outlet.

What is the highest outlet in Italy?

If by “highest” we mean geographical altitude, the highest outlet in Italy is most likely Brenner Outlet, at the Brenner Pass, in the province of Bolzano.

The center is located right on the border between Italy and Austria, at around 1,370 meters above sea level, in the heart of the Alps, as stated by the official website.

It is a very different case from Serravalle. Here, the outlet is not only a retail destination, but also a place of passage. The Brenner Pass is one of the major Alpine corridors in Europe: a crossing point between Italy and the German-speaking world, between tourism, mobility, transport, and commerce.

Brenner Outlet intercepts exactly this threshold condition. It is a border retail space, designed for those traveling from north to south or from south to north, and it represents an interesting typology: the outlet as an infrastructure of transit.

How many outlets are there in Italy today?

Today, there are around 33 structured outlet centers in Italy. This figure refers to organized outlet villages and factory outlet centers, not to individual factory stores, independent outlet shops, or outlet sections inside other retail formats.

This distinction is important. If all outlet stores, factory shops, and discounted sales points were counted, the number would be much higher and much less useful. Speaking of 33 outlet centers means considering structures with unified management, relevant commercial surface area, multiple brands, services, parking, and an autonomous identity.

According to ACROSS Magazine, the Italian outlet market is now one of the most mature in Europe: it is no longer only a phase of quantitative growth, but a system in which execution, identity, brand mix, and experience matter more and more.

The complete list of 33 outlets in Italy

Below is the list of the main 33 outlet centers in the Italian market, ordered by gross leasable area, or GLA. The figure also includes San Marino Outlet Experience, often considered in sector reports together with the Italian outlet market because of its geographical proximity and commercial dynamics.

The 10 largest outlets in Italy

Looking at the ranking by surface area, the ten largest outlets in Italy are:

The ranking shows an interesting fact: the phenomenon is not concentrated in just one geographical area. Northern Italy is certainly well represented, but large outlets are also found in Lazio, Apulia, Sicily, and Campania. This confirms the national nature of the model, which can adapt to different territories, tourist catchment areas, and infrastructure systems.

The outlet as architecture of leisure time

The success of outlets in Italy cannot be explained only through convenience. Discounts remain a central element, but they are not enough to describe the strength of these places.

The contemporary outlet works on a broader promise: leaving the city, moving through an orderly space, recognizing brands, walking without the pressure of the urban center, stopping for lunch, and buying something with the feeling of having made an intelligent choice.

It is a form of consumption that comes close to short tourism. People leave, arrive, stay, walk, and look. Shopping becomes part of a wider experience.

From an architectural point of view, many outlet villages use codes borrowed from the traditional city: pedestrian streets, squares, building fronts, scenic facades, outdoor dining areas, fountains, urban furniture, and places to pause. They are not real cities, but they reproduce some urban signs in a controlled, simplified, and commercial form.

This aspect is central. The outlet does not only sell products: it builds an environment. And the environment becomes part of the perceived value.

Outlets and Made in Italy: why the model works in this country

Italy is a particularly favorable ground for the outlet model. The country has a strong fashion culture, great international recognition of Made in Italy, widespread production districts, domestic and international tourism, and a powerful relationship between shopping, lifestyle, and territory.

In this context, the outlet responds to several desires at the same time: accessing well-known brands, buying at a reduced price, experiencing something outside the everyday routine, and combining shopping with leisure time.

For brands, outlets are also strategic tools. They allow companies to manage previous collections, stock, and dedicated assortments without completely giving up control over image. For consumers, instead, they represent an entry point into brands perceived as higher or aspirational.

The success of the model is therefore not only economic. It is also symbolic: the outlet intercepts the desire for accessible quality, especially in a country where fashion, design, and lifestyle have a very strong cultural weight.

The role of interior design in contemporary outlets

In recent years, outlets have no longer been only places of fashion. Some centers have expanded their identity toward furniture, design, food, and lifestyle.

The case of Scalo Milano Outlet & More is emblematic. The center, opened in 2016 and acquired by VIA Outlets in 2026, is described as an urban destination that integrates fashion, dining, and a dedicated Design District, with more than 15 single-brand showrooms. The same source indicates a GLA of around 44,000 square meters and over 180 brands.

This shift is relevant for the world of architecture and interior design. The outlet is no longer just a commercial container, but a place where spatial design, retail design, display, and the relationship between brand and environment become decisive elements.

The physical experience remains a competitive advantage over e-commerce. Touching materials, trying products, entering showrooms, and perceiving atmospheres and finishes are actions that digital cannot fully replace.

The future of outlets in Italy

The future of Italian outlets will depend less and less on discounts alone and more and more on the ability to build value around experience.

The strongest centers will be those able to renew the brand mix, improve services, curate food and dining, invest in the quality of spaces, integrate digital and physical experiences, attract tourism, and interpret new consumer behaviors.

In a mature market, the difference is no longer made only by opening a new outlet. The difference is made by management, identity, architecture, accessibility, reputation, and the ability to become a recognizable destination.

Serravalle remains the starting point and the strongest reference. Brenner Outlet tells the story of the Alpine and cross-border dimension. Scalo Milano shows the urban evolution of the model and its closer relationship with design. The other Italian outlets compose an articulated geography made of districts, tourism, motorway routes, metropolitan cities, and new consumer habits.

Outlets in Italy are now much more than a retail formula. They are part of the contemporary landscape: places where retail, architecture, leisure time, and desire meet.

Frequently asked questions about outlets in Italy

What was the first outlet in Italy?

The first outlet in Italy, in the modern format of a designer outlet village, is Serravalle Designer Outlet, opened in 2000 in Serravalle Scrivia, Piedmont.

What is the largest outlet in Italy?

The largest outlet in Italy is Serravalle Designer Outlet, with around 51,500 square meters of GLA.

How many outlets are there in Italy today?

Today, there are around 33 structured outlet centers in Italy, considering organized outlet villages and factory outlet centers.

What is the highest outlet in Italy?

The highest outlet in Italy is Brenner Outlet, at the Brenner Pass, at around 1,370 meters above sea level.

What is the difference between an outlet and a factory store?

A factory store is usually linked to a single brand or manufacturer. An outlet center, instead, is an organized retail structure with multiple brands, services, parking, restaurants, and unified management.

What are the largest outlets in Italy?

The largest outlets in Italy are Serravalle Designer Outlet, Valmontone Outlet, Scalo Milano Outlet & More, Puglia Outlet Village, Franciacorta Outlet Village, and Sicilia Outlet Village.

L'articolo Outlets in Italy: which was the first, which is the largest and how many are there today proviene da Archi & Interiors.

This evolution is not only aesthetic. It reflects a new way of living the home. The growing interest in residential well-being, together with the spread of Biophilic Design principles, has encouraged designers and brands to create more fluid environments, where materials, light, greenery, and furniture contribute to a more harmonious relationship between architecture and nature.

Even a small terrace can become a strategic space, as long as it is designed as an integral part of the interior and not as a separate or secondary area.

Layout and exposure: the terrace as an extension of the home

Every outdoor design project should begin with a careful analysis of sun exposure, ventilation, and the visual relationship with the interior. A south-facing terrace will have very different needs from a north-facing one or a terrace particularly exposed to wind, both in terms of plant selection and in the choice of materials and furniture.

In modern design, one of the most effective approaches is to create perceptual continuity between indoors and outdoors through coherent color palettes, coordinated surfaces, and materials that recall those used inside the home. Flooring also plays a fundamental role: using visually continuous finishes helps expand the perception of space and reduces the sense of separation.

Many specialized companies have developed collections designed specifically for this kind of living continuity. Florim porcelain stoneware systems and Deco composite decking are now among the most widely used solutions for combining technical resistance with aesthetic uniformity between indoor and outdoor spaces.

Small terrace furniture: fewer elements, stronger design quality

When talking about small terrace furniture, the most common mistake is trying to fit too many functions into a limited space. Modern design instead focuses on a few well-calibrated elements, able to provide comfort without making the environment feel heavy.

The most interesting outdoor furniture today combines visual lightness, modularity, and multifunctionality. Storage seats, folding tables, and modular systems make it possible to adapt the space to different everyday needs without compromising the fluidity of the layout.

The aesthetic language of outdoor living has also changed deeply in recent years. Brands such as Unopiù, Roda, and Ethimo increasingly work on hybrid collections, where the boundary between indoor and outdoor furniture becomes intentionally softer. Technical fabrics now have soft, refined textures, while structures often echo the language of modern interior design.

In a small terrace, empty space also has design value. Leaving room for light, movement, and greenery helps create more balanced, visually airy environments.

Terrace lighting: atmosphere, depth, and perception of space

Terrace lighting is often treated as a purely decorative element, when in reality it is one of the most important tools for creating atmosphere.

A well-designed lighting project can completely change the perception of a small terrace, emphasizing depth, textures, and visual comfort. Indirect light, for example, helps create softer and more relaxing environments than a central light that is too intense.

Many modern Italian lighting designers still refer to the principles developed by Richard Kelly, according to which light should not simply illuminate, but build experience and emotional perception of space. For this reason, the most widely used systems in modern terraces include integrated LED strips, step lights, shielded wall lights, and low-intensity diffused lighting, especially inside planters.

Balcony and terrace plants: greenery as an architectural element

In modern design, balcony plants are no longer used only as decoration. They become true architectural tools, able to transform the quality of the space.

Greenery filters light, improves the microclimate, increases privacy, and helps create the sense of urban refuge that is increasingly desired today. However, plant selection must be closely connected to the environmental characteristics of the terrace, considering exposure, wind, maintenance, and water availability.

Mediterranean species such as lavender, rosemary, and small ornamental olive trees are particularly suitable for very sunny terraces, while ferns, hostas, and fatsia japonica work better in shaded environments.

In recent years, outdoor design has also rediscovered the value of vertical greenery and plant walls, partly thanks to the research of botanist Patrick Blanc, considered one of the pioneers of modern vertical gardens. These solutions make it possible to increase the presence of greenery even in very small spaces, while also working on aesthetics, insulation, and environmental comfort.

Outdoor furniture ideas: toward a new way of living

The best outdoor furniture ideas today come from the ability to create continuity between architecture, interiors, and landscape. The terrace is no longer perceived as an accessory space, but as a true outdoor room, able to expand the functions of the home and improve the quality of everyday living.

In an increasingly dense urban context, even a small balcony can become a space for decompression, connection, and well-being, as long as it is approached through coherent and integrated design.

The real challenge of modern design is not to separate indoors and outdoors, but to create a continuous dialogue between the two environments, making the domestic experience more fluid, natural, and deeply connected to the landscape.

L'articolo Spatial continuity between indoors and outdoors: how to design a small terrace with coherence and contemporary style proviene da Archi & Interiors.

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The soft, continuous geometries, without sharp edges, identify a contemporary and welcoming aesthetic, capable of interacting with the architecture of the space without imposing themselves. The low frame, deep seat, soft cushions, and enveloping backrest convey an immediate sensation of visual and physical well-being, inviting relaxation.

Foster is featuring a refined stylistic measure, a hallmark of Pillet’s design language, and is conceived first and foremost as a true sofa: a design object that only later reveals its dual function. The reduced height emphasizes the relationship with the architectural space, creating a light visual effect: the sofa integrates naturally into the living room, discreetly concealing its function as a bed.

Modularity is one of the project’s strengths: linear units, corner solutions and chaise longue allow for customized configurations, adaptable to both residential and contract settings. Each composition maintains formal coherence and visual continuity, enhancing the idea of a flexible yet harmonious system.

The technological heart of Foster is the Lampolet mechanism, synonymous with quality and reliability. Conversion into a bed is simple, simply removing the seat cushions to reveal a built-in slatted base mechanism that accommodates a 10 cm high mattress made of high resilient polyurethane foam. This solution ensures comfortable and long-lasting sleep, without compromising aesthetics.

Once opened, Foster becomes a bed with a minimalist aesthetic, maintaining the same formal coherence as the sofa and offering a sleeping experience comparable to that of a traditional bed.

A wide range of cover options is available, fully removable and washable depending on the fabric chosen. The fact that it is delivered disassembled facilitates transportation and access to even the most complex spaces.

With Foster, Milano Bedding interprets the sofa bed as an advanced solution, where aesthetics and function coexist naturally, redefining the very concept of contemporary hospitality.

The company, which produces its models at its headquarters in Brianza, Lombardy, with meticulous craftsmanship, thus confirms its vision: a piece of furniture capable of combining international design, technological research, and a culture of well-being, transforming use into a spontaneous, elegant gesture that is fully integrated into the living space.

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