Migliore + Servetto Architects

Founded in 1997, Migliore + Servetto is a multi-award-winning Italian architecture studio based in Milan. It is led by Ico Migliore and Mara Servetto, who work with an international team of designers, architects and multidisciplinary experts. The firm specialises in the creation of branding projects and narrative spaces – public areas, museums, exhibitions, installations, retail, hospitality and entertainment projects – engaging at every level, from interior design to graphics, from video to multimedia. Migliore + Servetto Architects are behind several major cultural destinations in Italy and Europe, such as the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the Chopin Museum in Warsaw and the ADI Design Museum in Milan. The studio also has just signed the interior, exhibition, graphic and multimedia design of the new headquarters of the Generali Group’s social foundation, The Human Safety Net, inside Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Migliore + Servetto Architects in an Interview with Red Dot

Red Dot: What does design mean to you?
Migliore + Servetto Architects: Creating places as active interfaces, tools of empathetic communication between companies, institutions and the public in order to contribute to a positive metamorphosis of our collective spaces.

To what extent do you think new technologies are changing design?
In a posthuman era in which technologies become a system of acceleration and democratisation of access to knowledge and opportunities, the innovation lies in their integration in a harmonious and poetic way together with analogic environment.

How would you define good communication design?
Creating unique environments that evoke emotions, inspire ideas and engage people.

Was your award-winning work inspired by current social issues?
The Human Safety Net project in Venice for Generali was inspired by the themes of hospitality, encounter and human and social empowerment. Waterfront Door/Into the Ocean in Busan (South Korea) is born from a reflection on the current topic of proximity and distance between people, in order to offer a new way of storytelling which is able to spread the huge potential that public spaces have in building relationships.

Please describe the concept of creativity against the background of your award-winning work.
We believe that creativity is an act of courage and struggle. For us, it always arises from the careful observation of human behaviour, the relationships among people and the relationships between people and their environment.