Open House Milan 2026: The City Unveiled from Above
Milan, Italy – May 23, 2026 – The 11th edition of Open House Milan is set to transform the city into an open-air museum this weekend, May 23-24, 2026. With the evocative theme “Milan from Above,” the event promises a unique opportunity for both residents and visitors to explore 80 diverse locations, offering a fresh perspective on the city’s dynamic architectural landscape and urban evolution.
A New Perspective on a Changing City
Open House Milan aims to showcase the city as a living, interconnected organism where skyscrapers, courtyards, infrastructure, public spaces, private residences, and new forms of living blend into an ever-evolving urban panorama. The initiative, inspired by Open House London, seeks to make architecture accessible to all, providing direct experiences of places that are typically closed to the public.
Dr. Chiara Bellocchio, the event curator, emphasized, “Looking at Milan from above allows us to recognize a changing city: transforming neighborhoods, workspaces becoming relational hubs, residences experimenting with new forms of sharing, historic buildings embracing contemporary functions, and urban voids becoming opportunities for regeneration.”
80 Locations, Multiple Identities
The 2026 program features 80 visitable locations spread across Milan’s six historic zones: Porta Orientale, Porta Romana, Porta Ticinese, Porta Vercellina, Porta Nuova, and Porta Comasina. The diverse itinerary includes iconic architectures, institutional headquarters, private spaces, workplaces, museums, theaters, creative studios, showrooms, historic homes, new landmarks, and sites not usually accessible.
This year, the focus shifts to the more intimate and daily dimensions of the city, including private homes, new shared residential forms, hospitality venues, contemporary workspaces, and cultural spaces. This approach allows for a deeper understanding of Milan’s multifaceted identity as a productive, cultural, residential, vertical, domestic, and experimental city.
Historic Architectures and Contemporary Transformations
One of the highlights of Open House Milan is its ability to connect different eras and architectural languages. The program features historic buildings and 20th-century architectures, such as Casa De Pas, an apartment designed in the 1970s by Jonathan De Pas within Pietro Lingeri’s Casa Fronte Parco. Recently restored, this large domestic open space offers a valuable testimony to Milanese housing experimentation of the mid-20th century, characterized by visual continuity, spatial fluidity, and the integration of architecture and furniture. The press conference for Open House was held here, immediately immersing attendees in the spirit of the event.
Alongside these historical gems, the event opens symbolic locations of Milan’s skyline and modernity, such as Torre Velasca, where the IWG-branded Signature space reinterprets contemporary work within one of the city’s most recognizable buildings. Spread across the seventh and ninth floors, the project enhances the original structure and materials, introducing flexible environments, natural light, and new modes of use.
The dialogue between past and present is also evident in Casa Girola-Banca Investis, a historic building from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reinterpreted by Piero Portaluppi and now restored as a contemporary headquarters. This often-hidden Milan, composed of historic interiors, architectural memory, and new urban functions, is thus revealed to the public.
New Ways of Living: Homes, Student Housing, Hospitality, and Creative Communities
Open House Milan 2026 pays particular attention to new forms of contemporary living. Among the most significant projects is Aparto Giovenale, student housing designed by Carmody Groarke with Calzoni Architetti for the Savills group. In a city with growing demand for university housing, Aparto stands out for its architectural quality and spacious common areas, surpassing the rigid model of traditional student residences.
Another example of a possible urban community is MULINO Factory, a former pasta factory linked to Gio Ponti, now transformed into a hybrid space for residences, ateliers, artist residencies, and shared community. An edifice originally built to produce flour has been reborn to produce ideas, where living and creating become part of the same collective experience. In the same complex, MuaMua Hotel interprets hospitality as an immersive and identity-driven experience, with interiors designed by Tom Dixon that transform the hotel into a scenic and narrative space. The theme of living as a cultural narrative also reappears in The AP.Art.Ment, a home gallery created in a 1920s apartment, where contemporary art, collectible design, and hospitality coexist in a truly domestic dimension.
Workplaces, Creativity, and Well-being
The 2026 edition also focuses on professional and creative spaces, which are increasingly central to the rethinking of the contemporary city. For the first time, the headquarters of Lombardini22, a Milanese studio that has made the relationship between design, well-being, neuroscience, and workplace strategy one of its research fields, will be open to the public. The workspace is presented as a relational environment, capable of centering people, processes, and the quality of daily experience. Not far away, Hub Lombardini22 confirms this vision as a cultural platform open to the city, hosting events, co-working, workshops, and exhibitions.
Culture, Art, and Urban Visions: The Role of Partners
Open House Milan 2026 is enriched by a network of partners and collaborations that expand the cultural value of the event. These include the renewed collaboration with NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, which inaugurates the edition with “Nel Paese delle Ombre” (In the Land of Shadows), a performative project freely inspired by Haruki Murakami’s The End of the World and the Wonderland, involving students and faculty from the Scenography, Fashion Design, and Media Design and New Technologies courses. This transforms the visit into an immersive experience encompassing theater, costume, video, sound, and installation.
Open House Milan also hosts the publication “Milano Città Giardino” (Milan Garden City), curated by LAMPOON Magazine and published by Edizioni Bignami. This pocket-sized book serves as a civic manifesto dedicated to the relationship between people, nature, and urban space, inviting readers to imagine a slower, more breathable, and shared Milan.
From Theaters to Towers: A City to Explore with New Eyes
The program also involves significant Milanese cultural venues, including theaters, auditoriums, and historic institutions. Openings include the G. Verdi Conservatory, the Filodrammatici Theater, the Milan Auditorium, the La Scala Theater Workshops, and the RAI TV Production Center in Corso Sempione. The urban narrative extends to art galleries, house museums, private collections, and iconic skyline architectures, including Diamond Tower, Torre Arcobaleno, and Casa Rustici.
Urban regeneration projects are also featured, such as ARIA-Ex Macello and LivingUp in the renovated SeiMilano district in Bisceglie, which reflect a city committed to rethinking areas, functions, and urban relationships.
Open House Milan as a Shared Knowledge Experience
The essence of a project like Open House Milan lies in its choice to transform architecture into an accessible and shared experience. This democratic approach offers designers the opportunity to closely observe spatial solutions, recovery strategies, transformation processes, and new models of use. For the general public, it becomes a way to discover and rediscover Milan through places that often remain invisible, despite being part of the city’s daily life. In this sense, the 2026 edition encourages looking at Milan from above, but also invites a deeper understanding of the city: in its homes, its courtyards, its towers, and its cultural, work, and educational spaces.
Open House Milan is an opportunity to discover Milan up close, through the architectures that tell its memory, transformations, and new urban visions.
Information and Reservations
Open House Milan 2026 will take place on Saturday, May 23, and Sunday, May 24. The complete program of the 80 visitable locations can be found on the official website. Reservations are now open.
Source: infobuild.it
