milan opens its hidden archives for one night
On April 24th, 2026, during Milan Design Week 2026, Common Archive – La Notte Bianca del Progetto brings together, for the first time, the city’s vast network of design and architecture archives, opening them to the public for a single evening. Initiated by the Salone del Mobile.Milano through its Observatory, the program reframes the city as a living repository of processes, decisions, and latent ideas that shape the discipline.
Milan’s identity unfolds through its archives, spaces where design exists before it becomes product, building, or image. Drawings, sketches, prototypes, photographs, annotations, and iterations reveal the project in its most unstable and generative state. Common Archive positions these materials not as static records, but as active infrastructures: sites where knowledge is stored, reorganized, and made available for new readings.
Archivio Gae Aulenti, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile. Milano
a distributed system of knowledge
Curated by Susanna Legrenzi in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano School of Design, the initiative takes place across more than 50 free events, including guided visits and talks. The program connects key institutional and independent archives across the city, forming one of the densest ecosystems of design memory worldwide.
Participating venues range from the large-scale storage of the Cittadella degli Archivi to the CASVA – Centro Alti Studi sulle Arti Visive, housed in a building designed by Piero Bottoni. Institutions such as Triennale Milano and the ADI Design Museum, home to the historic Compasso d’Oro collection, are joined by specialized archives like the AIAP documentation center and the print collection at the Castello Sforzesco.
Gio Ponti Archives, Common Archive, Salone del Mobile.Milano – Ph: Salvatore Licitra
inside the homes of modern masters
The program extends into the more intimate dimension of the project through house-museums, studios, and foundations of key figures of the Italian 20th century. Archives dedicated to Achille Castiglioni, Franco Albini, Vico Magistretti, Gae Aulenti, Gio Ponti, and others open their doors, offering access to narratives where design practice intersects with everyday life. Often mediated by family members or foundations, these visits reveal anecdotal layers that exceed formal historiography.
As noted by Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, the initiative shifts attention beyond the built object toward the conditions that make design possible. Developed as part of the Observatory’s broader research, including the (Eco)Sistema Design Milano 2025 report, Common Archive marks a transition from analytical mapping to collective experience.
Giampiero Bosoni of the Politecnico di Milano emphasizes the urgency of activating archives as tools for future knowledge. In this sense, the event connects archives, practitioners, and audiences within the international context of Milan Design Week.
Cittadella degli Archivi, Cittadella degli Archivi, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile.Milano
Adi Design Museum – Collezione Storica del Compasso d’Oro, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile. Milano
AIAP – Centro di Documentazione sul Progetto Grafico, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile. Milano
Archivio Muzio Ca’Brütta – Torre Turati, ©Gianni Nigro Archivio Muzio, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile.Milano
Fondazione Franco Albini, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile. Milano
Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile. Milano
CASVA – Centro di Alti Studi sulle Arti Visive, De Pas, D’Urbino, Lomazzi, ©Toni Nicolini, Comune di Milano, CASVA – Archivio Studio DDL, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile
Fondazione Jacqueline Vodoz e Bruno Danese, Manuela Cirino, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile.Milano
Fondazione Studio Museo Vico Magistretti, @Ilaria Falciola, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile.Milano
Archivi Storici del Politecnico di Milano, ©Archivi Storici Politecnico di Milano, Common Archive – Salone del Mobile.Milano
project info:
name: Common Archive – La Notte Bianca del Progetto
date: April 24, 2026
location: Milan, Italy
organizer: Salone del Mobile.Milano Observatory | @isaloniofficial
in collaboration with: Politecnico di Milano School of Design
curator: Susanna Legrenzi
research leads: Massimo Bianchini, Stefano Maffei, Francesco Zurlo
support: Regione Lombardia and Comune di Milano
participating institutions include: ADI Design Museum, Triennale Milano, CASVA – Centro Alti Studi sulle Arti Visive, Cittadella degli Archivi, AIAP Documentation Centre, Castello Sforzesco Bertarelli Print Collection
featured archives and foundations include: Achille Castiglioni Foundation, Franco Albini Foundation, Vico Magistretti Studio Museum, Gae Aulenti Archive, Gio Ponti Archives
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