Milano Arch Week 2025: architecture against inequality

Critical thinking, research, urban vision, inequalities. From October 27 to November 2, 2025, Milano Arch Week turns the city into a large laboratory of ideas promoted by the City of Milan, in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano and Triennale Milano. Curated by Nina Bassoli and Matteo Ruta, the seventh edition — titled “Inequalities and Architecture” — ideally closes the 24th International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, expanding on the theme of inequality as a lens through which to read the contemporary city. An open dialogue on wealth and poverty, society and community, ecology and sustainability, told through lectures, exhibitions, installations, films, performances, and projects spread across more than 30 venues throughout the city — from CityLife and Gallaratese to Bovisa.


© Sepideh Farvardin

Among this year’s protagonists, Dominique Perrault will open the event at Politecnico di Milano (October 27), followed by Deacon Marvel from the Buckminster Fuller Institute and Didier Faustino from Bureau des Mésarchitectures. On October 29, Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT and curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale, will take the stage, while Tosin Oshinowo, Nigerian architect and designer, will bring to Triennale her vision combining cultural identity and sustainability. On October 31, the spotlight will be on Cristina Gamboa of Lacol, a non-profit architectural cooperative based in Barcelona that creates community infrastructures, and Lesley Lokko, founder of the African Futures Institute and recipient of the 2024 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.


© La Borda Alvaro Valdecantos

The weekend focuses on urban regeneration and emerging thought: Dieter Leyssen of 51N4E, Marina Otero Verzier, Rozana Montiel, Virginia San Fratello, Emil Grip, and Sarah Ackland will offer global perspectives on architecture’s role between participation, memory, and technology. Alongside the lectures, the program features two unmissable installations: Voices on Masbedo’s Ritratto di Città 20/20 in Triennale’s new Voce space (October 31 – November 2), curated by Carlo Antonelli and Cloe Piccoli, and in the Gioco space — a creative and sustainable venue designed by Luca Cipelletti — the video installation by Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine, the artist duo whose complete filmography is part of the MoMA collection in New York.


© House of Snow with Icebergs

Among the highlights of the 2025 edition is the Italian Architecture Prize, promoted by Triennale Milano and MAXXI Rome, to be announced on October 30. Also on the program is the international symposium “The Space of Inequalities. Environment, Mobility, Citizenship” (October 31, Triennale Milano), organized by CRAFT and DAStU – Politecnico di Milano, focusing on the strategic role of cities in addressing inequalities. The week also includes screenings, talks, and performances, such as Monument DA by Cristina Kristal Rizzo and Diana Anselmo, a choreographic piece that weaves together dance and Italian Sign Language, turning diversity into a shared language. The event will close with three auteur films dedicated to the contemporary city: Still Here by Suranga D. Katugampala, Orlando, My Political Biography by Paul B. Preciado, and La Storia del Frank e della Nina by Paola Randi.


© Triennale Milano 

All events are free admission (except performances).
Registrations at triennale.org and polimi.it.