From Lina Ghotmeh’s installation in the Cortile d’Onore of Palazzo Litta to the highlights of the exhibition
The Franco-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh has been selected by MoscaPartners to create Metamorphosis in Motion, the central installation of MoscaPartners Variations 2026, the collective exhibition that each year transforms the historic Baroque palace on Corso Magenta into a privileged observatory of contemporary design culture.
For Ghotmeh, this marks her first outdoor site-specific intervention in Italy: an installation that will serve as the scenographic and conceptual centerpiece of the event, engaging in dialogue with the architecture of the Cortile d’Onore and with projects by designers, creatives, and companies curated by Caterina Mosca and her team. Following her approach, which she calls "Archaeology of the Future," Ghotmeh interprets this year’s theme, Metamorphosis, as a process of transformation, layering, and attentive listening to the site.
MoscaPartners Variations 2026, Palazzo Litta, Milano. Metamorphosis in Motion, top view ©️ Lina Ghotmeh
The symmetry, proportion, and visual axes of the Cortile d’Onore make it a dynamic stage, where the visitor’s body becomes an integral part of the composition. Through curved geometries, shifting perspectives, and a sequential path, the pavilion transforms the courtyard from a static monumental frame into a living spatial ecosystem. Its labyrinthine layout functions as an architectural device mediating between preservation and activation, allowing the space to remain intact while being continuously reinterpreted through movement, light, natural elements, and time. The different areas defined by the modules offer multiple ways to experience the pavilion, both sensorially and in terms of interaction with the environment and other visitors.
MoscaPartners Variations 2026, Palazzo Litta. Metamorphosis in Motion, view inside the pavilion ©️ Lina Ghotmeh
“We reflected on the role of the courtyard as both a passage and a stage, an intermediate realm designed to guide movement and enhance the experience,” says Lina Ghotmeh. “Metamorphosis emerges as an architectural journey in which a single space unfolds multiple identities, transforming memory and space into a single dynamic narrative.”
Born in Beirut in the 1980s, Ghotmeh has developed a sensitive and rigorous architectural vision, deeply influenced by the historical and cultural context of her hometown. After studying at the American University of Beirut and training at the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, where she also taught, she founded Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture, internationally recognized for an interdisciplinary approach combining historical research, sensitive observation, and material experimentation. Her projects, published and exhibited in prestigious contexts such as the Venice Biennale, the MAXXI in Rome, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the Danish Architecture Center, demonstrate a practice attuned to the layered narratives of place. Among her most recent accolades are her appointment for the renovation of the western wing of the British Museum, inclusion in TIME100 Next 2025, and the Gold Award for Best Architecture and Landscape for the Bahrain Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Lina Ghotmeh at Palazzo Litta ©Emanuele Cremaschi
Once again, the Cortile of Palazzo Litta confirms its role as the beating heart of Milan Design Week, continuing the vision of Caterina Mosca and Valerio Castelli, who in 2014 rediscovered its potential, transforming it into a symbol of the Fuorisalone. With Metamorphosis in Motion, the courtyard becomes an active threshold and participatory stage, where the relationship between individuals, space, and nature intersects with sustainable practices such as recycling, upcycling, and technological innovation.
The exhibition reflects on the concept of metamorphosis as generative transformation, capable of creating new formal, narrative, and design identities, keeping the human experience at its center while expanding the gaze toward the environment and planetary resources. Architecture, design, and creativity engage in dialogue to imagine future scenarios, blending poetry, research, and experimentation into a unique, sensitive, and participatory experience.
In addition to the main installation, the exhibition features a selection of international exhibitors exploring design, art, and innovative materials:
Adrenalina – Bar Adrenalina by DebonaDemeo (Italy)
BASE TIMES – kawaguchi by Kazuhito ISHIDA (Japan)
Chiodelli Arte – Transforming Hand by Alexander Brizh evaty (Italy)
DaniloRamazzotti X NovaBell Ceramiche – Rare Heart by Glauco Ramazzotti (Italy)
Habit+Eleni+Gape – Three Design Languages by Studio Giovanetti (Italy-India)
Helix Bespoke Studio – The Ecology of the Hexagon by Katia Luna Benaï (United Kingdom)
LcD Textile Edition – «Full Metal Banquet», Scenography guest: Eric Charles Donatien (Belgium)
meet by JooHyun Lee – Balance Objects (South Korea)
MV Line – Sunflower by Giulio Iacchetti (Italy)
NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti – Extreme Environments, curated by Claudio Larcher, Andrea Mancuso, Michele Aquila, Luca Poncellini, Sofia D’Andrea, with NABA students, in collaboration with CIAL, National Consortium for Aluminum Packaging Recycling (Italy)
Nychair X – Lightness of Comfort by Jakub Kozłowski (Japan)
Odone Angelo – Veins of Blue by Claudio Larcher Design Studio (Italy)
Onofrio Acone – Onofrioacone – The Perfect Imperfection of Ceramic Art (Italy)
Osmotica / Humans Connected – designers Elena Bonnet with Martina Toso, Valentina Bottani, Marcantonio Raimondi Malerba, Sara Ricciardi; Art direction by Vincenzo Castellana; Executive direction by Flaviana Lenzo (Italy)
POETIC CURIOSITY + MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION – Curious Matters (Japan)
Poliuretano-è – Mutant Materials by Studio Giovanetti (Italy)
Shanghai Saibosi Textile Technology Co., Ltd. (China)
Vetralia – The Bukolisch Project by Lucia Massari (Italy)
Tag: Design Milan Milano Design Week Fuorisalone 2026
© Fuorisalone.it — All rights reserved. — Published on 20 January 2026
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