migliore + servetto designs exhibition celebrating 240 years of teatro alla scala

considered one of the leading opera and ballet theaters in the world, milan’s teatro all scala is celebrating 240 years with an exhibition titled la magnifica fabbrica. supported by intesa san paolo and designed by italo lupi in collaboration with migliore + servetto, the show curated by fulvio irace and pierluigi panza invites visitors to retrace the evolution of the theater and the city of milan from the 18th century up to today while revealing its future ventures.

all images by andrea martiradonna unless otherwise noted

designed by migliore + servetto, the magnifica fabbrica exhibition allows the public to enter the chronicles of la scala and of the city of milan through a series of micro stories that succeed one another along the six rooms of the theater’s museum. inside, oversized graphics along the walls guide visitors not only through the exhibition, but around the emblematic structure’s rich history.

a theatrical moment is presented inside a room where a metaphor of an orchestra comes to life. here, visitors encounter an ensemble of 30 music stands to go as with many historical and present-day pictures of la scala, which are animated in a round, each time with a different focus, in dialogue with the large projection above them. this room aims to encapsulate the historical evolution of the theater and the piazza in front of it, which combines the various elements featured in the exhibition.

the exhibition concludes at the ridotto dei palchi, where an impressive wooden maquette crafted by ivan kunz recreated with an extraordinary level of construction details, results in a section of the building at a scale of 1:75. the visitor can explore the theater’s transformations from different perspectives — from piermarini’s designs in 1778 to the most recent planning history by mario botta: the intervention made in 2004 that led to a change in the building’s function and the impending expansion planned for 2022 that will add a new tower to the theatre’s profile.

image © designboom

construction of mario botta’s new tower will begin this year behind the existing fly tower. it will extend the backstage area, increase the space available for dancers and musicians — new rehearsal rooms — and provide new office space. the work is the only and final opportunity for the theatre to extend the spaces it requires in order to function, since its perimeter is enclosed by other properties and streets. with its bulge, the new tower is similar to milan’s torre velasca and it gives an idea of medieval milan. the architecture language is that typical of botta, featuring precise geometry, the alternation between open and closed spaces, and with great care in the choice of materials.