Asif Khan

Tempietto nel Bosco

The Great Courtyard of Palazzo Litta hosts Tempietto nel Bosco, an installation by the London-based studio Asif Khan debuting at Milan Design Week. Khan is renowned for his exceptional projects which include the MegaFaces pavilion at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Coca Cola Beatbox in London at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Summer House at the Serpentine Galleries in London, the Guggenheim Helsinki Plan, the U.K. Pavilion at the Expo 2017 in Astana, the Hyundai Pavilion in PyeongChang during the 2018 Winter Olympics, and the Museum of London in West Smithfield.

The wood-based installation for The Litta Variations/4th Movement, unique in the way in which it slants upwards, explores the natural element of the forest while simultaneously exploring the architecture of an open-air cathedral, an extension of the Renaissance structure of Palazzo Litta, which, by way of a matrix of interconnected rooms and corridors, leads to a space of tranquility and relaxation. "The intimate rooms are intended as a place to unwind and converse during the intense marathon that is Milan Design Week. A soft surface under the feet offers a textural contrast against the kilometers of pedestrian sidewalks across the city,” says Asif Khan.

The architect imagined the pavilion as a clearing in a forest, of which the courtyard of Palazzo Litta becomes a counterpart: an orderly environment created by men. The installation of Asif Khan is a reflection on the past, on the present and on the future. Next to the world of the forest and the architectural order defined by man, the future takes shape, represented by the clearings created in space. Hence the overall redness of the installation: the colour of the new world with which contemporary man is more and more familiar: the red planet, Mars.

Client: Damn Magazine, Mosca Partners
Engineering: AKTII
Fabrication: Imola Legno
Furniture: Living Divani
Stone:  Van den Weghe
Lighting: Artemide

Photography: Luke Hayes
Photography & Drone Footage: Laurian Ghinitoiu