human interaction transforms lina ghotmeh’s dream-like pink labyrinthine at palazzo litta

palazzo litta becomes a saturated field of movement

At Milan Design Week 2026, MoscaPartners reactivates Palazzo Litta with Variations, transforming its Cortile d’Onore into a saturated, inhabitable landscape with Lina Ghotmeh’s Metamorphosis in Motion. The installation occupies the courtyard as a dense, pink spatial system that immediately shifts the reading of the baroque setting. The courtyard reads as a dreamlike field in flux, where perception loosens and space is continuously redefined through movement. Drawing from the ceremonial and spatial history of the palace, Ghotmeh frames the intervention as both fragment and performance. ‘It’s a baroque installation that plays with the fragment, but that also is about performance and all the ceremonial history that this palazzo has lived,’ she shares with designboom.

The installation is organized as a continuous surface of steps, platforms, and partitions that guide bodies through a loose maze. There is no single path and no fixed hierarchy. Visitors cut across, pause, sit, and observe. From above, the layout reads almost like a plan turned solid, a figure-ground inversion where circulation thickens into form. What looks graphic at first becomes spatially dense once occupied. Conceived as a space to slow down within the intensity of design week, the project introduces a different temporal rhythm. ‘It’s a place where you can spend time, where you can sit down… a whole labyrinth that allows you to wind paths, and each path will lead you into a discovery and an encounter,’  Ghotmeh tells us.

the pink intervention transforms the Cortile d’Onore | all images by Nathalie Krag, unless stated otherwise

Lina Ghotmeh’s installation contrasts with the historic shell

This intense, hot pink sits in contrast with the muted tones and symmetry of Palazzo Litta. The columns, arcades, and facades remain untouched, but their perception shifts. The installation doesn’t imitate or defer to the historic context. It presses against it. Color becomes both atmosphere and statement. ‘I wanted architecture to bring warmth and softness… the pink and the hues of red are ones that allow you to be engulfed in the sun,’ the Lebanese-born architect Linan Ghotmeh explains, linking the palette to ideas of care, presence, and a more human-centered spatial experience.

Across the piano nobile, 25 exhibitors extend this idea of transformation beyond the courtyard. The theme of Metamorphosis is treated less as a narrative and more as a working condition. Projects move between material research, fabrication techniques, and speculative proposals, often sitting somewhere between product, prototype, and installation.

platforms, steps, and cut-outs construct a dense field of circulation and rest | image by Takumi Ota

an open system shaped through movement and occupation

Instead of a linear sequence, MoscaPartners constructs a dispersed experience. Rooms open into one another without a strict hierarchy, echoing the non-linear logic of the courtyard intervention. The visitor is left to assemble their own route and interpretation. This lack of prescription feels intentional, reinforcing the idea that design today operates through systems and relationships rather than isolated objects.

For Ghotmeh, this openness is intentional. ‘I always like to have an architecture that feels somehow unfinished (…)so those fragments can still grow,’ she tells designboom, framing the installation as a system that evolves through occupation.

Seen from above, the courtyard reads as a labyrinthine composition hovering between drawing and space. ‘There’s this idea of a dream-like space that is between reality and something that has a surreal quality,’ she adds.

Ultimately, the project positions architecture as a shared, lived process. ‘When I’m talking about metamorphosis, I’m talking about the transformation of space through the use of people,’ Ghotmeh says, grounding the installation in collective experience rather than form alone.

geometric volumes guide movement without prescribing a fixed route | image by Takumi Ota

the installation sits in contrast with the baroque columns and muted facade | image by Takumi Ota

the courtyard reads as a labyrinthine composition shaped through occupation | image by Takumi Ota

vertical elements punctuate the landscape

seating, thresholds, and passages merge into a single spatial language

visitors navigate the installation as a loose labyrinth of paths and encounters

a continuous pink plane occupies the historic stone courtyard | image by Takumi Ota

hovering between drawing and space | image by Takumi Ota

conceived as a space to slow down within the intensity of design week | image by Takumi Ota

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all gallery images ©designboom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info:

name: Metamorphosis in Motion

designer: Lina Ghotmeh | @linaghotmeh

edition: Milan Design Week 2026

location: Palazzo Litta, Corso Magenta 24, Milan, Italy

dates: April 21st–26th, 2026

organizer: MoscaPartners | @moscapartners

founders: Caterina Mosca, Valerio Castelli

This article is part of designboom’s Dreams in Motion chapter, exploring what happens when we treat our dreams and reveries as an active, radical rehearsal for impending material realities. Explore more related stories here.