Archiproducts Milano 2021: Future Habit(at)

In a post-pandemic world, technology and ‘cocoons’ create living spaces

Work is underway at the new Archiproducts Milano space in Via Tortona 31, getting it ready to present the new “Future Habit(at)” display. The 2021 project, whose doors will open to the public by April, includes over 60 international brands, all enthusiastic and eager to start up again after an extremely tiring year. The design of the space is the fruit of collaboration with Studio Salaris.

In a post-pandemic world, the boundary between home and work is dissolving. How can interior design define a “new normal” and create the living space of the future? Future Habit(at) stages a fresh interpretation of living whose keywords are technology – increasingly silent and stripped of traditional interfaces to improve the way we live and work – and cocoon – an opportunity for intimacy in shared spaces.

The official presentation of Archiproducts Milano 2021 is scheduled for the coming weeks as part of a renewed calendar no longer marked by big design events. In past years, Milan design week inevitably defined the schedule for the inauguration and official presentation of the Via Tortona space. Today, there is a different scenario. Over the last year, the intermittent breaks caused by Covid led us to devise a new organisational model more respectful of each company’s schedules and needs within their single strategies. Today, we believe in more specific events whose primary driver will be the quality and timeframes of the encounters. Perhaps the events will have reduced in-person attendance, but a more connected digital strategy will broaden their reach. The 2021 edition of Archiproducts Milano starts from this new awareness.

‘Cocoon’ spaces. New interpretations of intimacy and sharing
Design responds to the changing boundaries between home and work; it takes on a central role in defining the “new normal” in our post-pandemic world. If the home is now a home office, the office – the place we can’t wait to get back to – becomes a hybrid place, where desks give way to new areas for sharing and interaction, something we dearly miss right now. In designing future spaces, the goals are to distance ourselves physically from others but also share space in a new way.

At Archiproducts Milano, this new tendency translates into a fusion of different elements; for example, kitchens become coworking areas, living walls and cocoon spaces.

Cocoon implies protection, while the verb cocooning means cuddle. ‘Cocoons’ are places for intimacy in shared spaces. All the rooms in the building on Via Tortona contain ‘cocoons’ – inhabitable arches that house people and technology with interactive portholes containing headphones and tablets, wall coverings that become habitable architecture and office islands in the larger rooms. The arches also become the graphic symbols of the new facade in anodised aluminium chain.

Technology dematerialised
Renewed attention to our life spaces and the technological and digital “leap” driven by Covid-19 have led us to appreciate the idea of a smart home even more. The optimisation of lighting and climate or security controls undoubtedly contributes to bettering our daily lives.

How can the smart home take care of us today? How can interior design incorporate the continuous and hyper-rapid evolution of digital tools, humanise them and lessen their impacts? How can we create spaces where people can live and work while interacting naturally with technology?

In the Smart Apartment at Archiproducts Milano, visitors can experience the way domotics and the internet of things help maintain concentration and productivity. How? Being able to set timers, create reminders and determine daily rhythms fosters good habits and helps maintain them.

Technology is dematerialising. It is becoming less evident, stripped of traditional interfaces, and increasingly silent, leaving room for creativity and experimentation. Objects and materials are the new sensible interfaces between humans and space, allowing people to experience and inhabit the home, office and city with intelligence. Archiproducts Milano presents interactive portholes with headphones and tablets for a new digital domestic experience – an intelligent kitchen with interactive tops, smart refrigerators and ovens and simple wood panels whose touch displays become interfaces for domotic systems.

Archiproducts Milano 2021 is a manifesto for the living space of the future. It is an interactive and multimedia journey to the soft side of technology, promoting a new understanding of sharing spaces in a ‘new normal’ that is sustainable, beautiful and comfortable.