Three years ago, our magazine started a journey exploring the digital home with the exhibition-installation “Soft Home” (2016) and later the retail sector with “Elle Decor Concept Store” (2017). This journey inevitably led us to study how the most ‘digital’ generations live nowadays.

“We started from a research by Francesco Morace with Future Concept Lab on the concept of ‘Onlife’. According to the sociologist, this is the dimension where the analogical world meets the digital one. We identified four generational clusters, from 20-year-olds to over 30-year-olds, and investigated their idea of home, their needs and aspirations, their relationship with design, with iconic and functional objects.” said Livia Peraldo Matton, director of Elle Decor Italia and curator of the project. “This is the story of ‘Onlife. Millenials at Home’, which will be inaugurated at Palazzo Bovara in occasion of Milan Design Week 2018”.

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Courtesy Photo
The Gallery in the entrance. Here, the residents from the four generations introduce themselves with video installations. Dominant colour: Millenial pink.

On the first floor of this 18th-century palace, you’ll see Millenials’ living spaces and their different inclinations. People between 20-25 years old are more nomad and physiologically digital; 25-30-year-olds are clearly more oriented towards their first job and therefore co-working and co-housing spaces. Up until 30-35-year-olds and their desire for a family and 35-40-year-olds who live domestic spaces as the privileged stage for their passions.

“It’s the topic of Onlife and its metabolism that introduces us to how younger generations live. It’s important to understand that digital is not an alternative to material but it’s an integral part of reality. This premise applies to different age ranges” stresses Francesco Morace. He has been working with Linda Gobbi and Future Concept Lab since 1998, monitoring different international lifestyles following socio-demographic principles. “Onlife can be compared to the shift from hieroglyphics to prints, something inevitable. It’s a new paradigm that makes Millenials innovators”.

Frederik De Wachter and Alberto Artesani, experts in interior design and fashion outfitting from DWA Design Studio, were responsible for putting this concept into a 3D installation. “We decided to introduce the four clusters in the initial Gallery to draw the digital lines of life in the 21st century, where there is still a physical/ analog approach to daily life” tells us Alberto Artesani. “We started from a liquid concept of the home, characterised by the flat sharing philosophy, and we imagined it with the famous Millenial pink. We arranged the other rooms following that fluidity, which became more structured with time. The concept of life-sharing is here represented by fully-equipped co-living and co-working spaces, designed to reflect Millenials’ personalities.” The endpoint of this transformation is the 30-year-olds’ room at the end of the journey. Their attitude was translated into photography sets that recreate their perfect living parameters.” The development of Onlife is an exploratory journey that puts together four different generations starting from the debate that will mark the socio-economic configuration of the next decades” adds the designer.

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Courtesy Photo
Co-housing is the living form typical of young people between 25 and 30.

Besides design, the silver thread of the project is the relationship that young people have with technology. This theme was researched already by AKQA: “Our constant research on Millenials’ routines, passions, lifestyles, affections and aspirations allowed us to define the immersive experiences we created with DWA”. The solutions offered by the team, with Antonella Sannella, Francesca Veronesi and Carlo De Togni, come from an ad-hoc research. “Our experimentation has a participative approach. We involved young people between 20 and 25 years old from different nationalities in a co-design experience. We asked them to share with us their idea of home, influenced by their sense of belonging, so fluid and dynamic that it redesigned its traditional meaning. Their values and points of view informed our work and contributed to making this experience interactive on a conceptual level. Some in a very visible way; like the stairs with a sky full of stars where visitors can get lost reading dreams and fragments of a mixed generational universe.”

They added: “We also dedicated some space to explain the functionality of Google Home. The residents of the house will greet visitors in a very peculiar way using the Google device. Some will say hello in a foreign language and others will greet them creating the right atmosphere, perhaps through music.” Another part worth mentioning is the restaurant (offering healthy and delicious dishes) where visitors will see a video showing recipes and vegan food preparation by Davide Rapp.

Landscape architect Marco Bay was in charge of the green part of the project. “In the green indoor set-up, I highlighted the age range depending on the lifestyle. From the youngest, always on the move, taking care of small plants, to the more adult generation, settled down, who lives in a home with more demanding plants”. For what concerns the outdoor, where you can stop by for a drink at the bar, “we designed a lush forest with sub-tropical plants. In the noble courtyard, there will be some Alexander palms, with elegant fan-shaped leaves, huge Katia plants with dark green reflexes, banana plants with shades going from bright green to dark red and philodendrons wrapped around the columns of the portico. In this green environment, visitors will also be greeted by an inebriating lilac scent, a spring classic in Milanese gardens.”

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Courtesy Photo
The house as a self-expression stage, home of 35-40-year-olds.

Onlife. Millennials at Home

Palazzo Bovara,

corso Venezia 51, Milano, dal 16 al 29 aprile 2018.

Opening times: 10am - 8pm every day (on April 19th: 10am - 5pm)

Free entry

Bar in the garden (breakfast, lunch and happy hour), restaurants on the first floor.

PROJECT BY ELLE DECOR ITALIA

Insight Research: Future Concept Lab — Exhibition Design: DWA Design Studio — Interaction Design: AKQA — Landscape Design: Marco Bay — Exhibition coordination: Design Marina Cinciripini — Wallpaper animation: Gio Pastori — Main Partner: Google, Tiffany&Co. — Ceramic Surfaces: Florim e Cedit - Ceramiche d'Italia — Special OutdoorPartner: Baxter — Outdoor Living Space: Corradi — Real Estate Partner: Tirelli & Partner — Fragrance Design: Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle — Official Men’s Grooming: Depot — Official Watch: D1 Milano — Official Bike: Moto Morini — Technology Partner: HP — Audio-visual Partner: Bang&Olufsen — Architectural Lighting Partner: Panzeri — Friendly Protection Partner: Vape — Partner: Agape, Agape Casa, Alessi, Alpi, Amini, Arpa Industriale, B&B Italia, Boffi, Bulthaup Italia, cc-tapis, Davide Groppi, De Padova, Dedar, Driade, FontanaArte, Fritz Hansen, GT Design, Janus et Cie, Kartell, Lapalma, Lema, Luceplan, Poliform, Tacchini, Technogym, Unical, Zucchetti Kos — Educational Partner Istituto Marangoni — Trade FairPartner Ambiente — Media Partner: Archiproducts — Partner Tecnici: Bellavite, Listone Giordano, Radici Contract, Sikkens, Silent Gliss — Special Thanks: Cita — Restaurant & Bar Caffè Scala, Longino & Cardenal Cibi Rari e Preziosi.

Opening Photo: ONLIFE. MILLENNIALS AT HOME, LA MOSTRA-INSTALLAZIONE DI ELLE DECOR ITALIA PER LA MILANO DESIGN WEEK. EXHIBITION DESIGN: DWA DESIGN STUDIO