UNPACKING room for dreams at Milan Design Week 2026
ROOM FOR DREAMS, designboom’s multilayered takeover of the ME Milan Il Duca during Milan Design Week 2026, brings together architects, designers, cultural institutions, and brand collaborators to transform the Aldo Rossi-designed hotel in the heart of the city into a temporary ecosystem of ideas. Exploring dreams as rigorous tools for social and cultural change, each intervention transforms the hotel’s public spaces through a unique interpretation of dreaming, imagination and future possibilities.
More than a design exhibition, ROOM FOR DREAMS becomes a living manifesto for utopian optimism, creative courage and the power of imagination through a multilayered approach where large scale installations, cinematic storytelling, live conversations, and ritual-driven encounters converge. From an immersive installation by SolidNature and AMO/OMA’s Samir Bantal, to a dedicated Cinema of Dreams by Paf atelier and a LIVE talk with Philippe Starck, discover everything that will take place from April 20 to 26, 2026 at ROOM FOR DREAMS below!
ME MILAN IL DUCA BECOMES A LIVING MANIFESTO FOR CREATIVE HOPE
Set within the ME Milan Il Duca at Piazza della Repubblica, Porta Garibaldi, ROOM FOR DREAMS builds on the idea of the hotel as a liminal condition, a space of transition where new perspectives emerge. The project invites visitors to move through a sequence of spaces across the hotel’s public areas, from the open-air garden, to the lively lobby area and the meeting room basement. During the course of Milan Design Week 2026, each of these spaces is transformed by designboom, alongside a cross-disciplinary lineup, to correspond to a different phase of dreaming. From collective imagination to personal reflection, the experience blurs the boundaries between design and emotion, turning the hotel into a blueprint of what a better world could feel and look like.
Il Sonno by SolidNature and OMA/AMO, a large-scale installation in the hotel garden | image courtesy of SolidNature
solidnature and oma/amo turn stone into a speculative medium
In the hotel’s open air garden, SolidNature collaborates with Samir Bantal and his team at AMO/OMA to construct a large-scale installation that turns stone into a speculative medium. The project questions how material choices can shape more optimistic futures, grounding utopian thinking in tangible matter and the idea that a better world begins with what we choose to make it from.
Il Sonno reinterprets the daily routine, shopping for groceries, into a world of wonder
THE cinema of dreams BY PAF ATELIER
Below ground, Paf atelier transforms the hotel’s basement into a cinematic ‘time capsule’. The Paris-based studio, who is also responsible for the entire ROOM FOR DREAMS set design, has developed a suspended space to slow down, reflect and feel inspired amidst the chaos of the city. With a curated, daily program of film screenings, the Cinema of Dreams invites audiences to explore for imagination, optimism and emerging possibilities through film.
image courtesy of Paf atelier
image courtesy of Paf atelier
the lobby as stage for live talks and experimental encounters
At ground level, the hotel lobby takes shape as ROOM FOR DREAMS’ social space, hosting live talks, interviews, and informal exchanges throughout the week. In this space, designboom kicks off the week-long talks program on Monday, April 20th, with a live talk by our favorite dreamer, Philippe Starck, at 3:00 PM.
Starck portrait by James Bort
RESSENCE REIMAGINES THE EXPERIENCE OF TIME
Also in the lobby, Ressence challenges the linear constraints of time through a portal of horological wonder. The installation presents a unique way to experience some of the brand’s most notable watches as well as unique pieces and rarely seen components. This includes those created in collaboration with industrial designer Marc Newson, the futurist Japanese lacquer and mother-of-pearl artist Terumasa Ikeda, and a major new release, introduced just days earlier at Watches and Wonders Geneva. In the Cinema of Dreams, the Antwerp-based brand presents ‘Now is Better’, a film by graphic designer and artist Stefan Sagmeister.
Ressence’s Type 3 BB2 will be one of the models on show during ‘Room for Dreams’ | image courtesy of Ressence
A SENSORY JOURNEY by LA MARZOCCO’S Accademia del Caffè Espresso
In the same space, La Marzocco’s cultural center for research and education on coffee, Accademia del Caffè Espresso, reimagines daily rituals with Coffee PortrAIts, an experimental format where technology and craftsmanship illuminate each other rather than compete. Each day of the week, a different guest roaster brings their craft to a mobile coffee cart, serving limited portions as part of a living, multisensory exhibition.
Coffee PortrAIts, an exhibition and tasting format by Accademia del Caffè Espresso | image courtesy of La Marzocco
film, technology, and global voices expand editorial storytelling
Technology becomes both tool and subject within the project. OPPO collaborates with designboom to produce ‘Seeing Further’, a short film captured entirely on its latest flagship device Find X9 Ultra during the week and screened as part of the program. Meanwhile, INDX|GLOBAL hosts a live podcast series within ROOM FOR DREAMS, bringing together international voices in architecture and design to discuss creative thinking as a catalyst for transformation.
project info:
name: ROOM FOR DREAMS
organizer: designboom
partners: ME Milan Il Duca, SolidNature with AMO/OMA, Paf atelier, Ressence, Accademia del Caffè Espresso by La Marzocco, OPPO, INDX|GLOBAL, Pernod Ricard, Topologie, Uppercat, Pedrali
location: ME Milan Il Duca, Piazza della Repubblica, 13, 20124 Milano MI
dates: April 20–26, 2026 (public days: April 21-26)
opening hours: 10:00 – 20:00 daily
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