Prada, AMO and the Architecture of Fashion
Prada’s relationship with architecture extends beyond the design of its retail spaces. Through collaborations with architects and interdisciplinary research practices, the fashion house has explored how space, imagery and cultural theory can shape its identity. The proposed new headquarters in Milan offers an opportunity to revisit this relationship through an earlier project: the Real Fantasies lookbook for Autumn/Winter 2009, developed in collaboration with AMO.
A New Headquarters in Milan
In September 2026, Artribune reported plans for a new Prada headquarters at Via Orobia 3, close to Fondazione Prada in southern Milan. Designed by OMA, the architecture practice founded by Rem Koolhaas, the proposed development is reported to encompass approximately 25,900 square metres, with a central garden, green roofs and buildings reaching a maximum height of 25 metres. The scheme remains subject to planning developments and should not be regarded as a completed architectural project.
The proposal continues a longstanding dialogue between Prada and OMA. Their collaboration has demonstrated how architecture can operate as more than a backdrop for fashion, influencing the organisation of spaces and the experience of a brand. The new headquarters would extend this approach into the working environment, connecting corporate functions with landscape and the surrounding urban fabric.
Real Fantasies: Fashion as Visual Experiment
An earlier expression of this interdisciplinary approach can be found in Prada’s Fall/Winter 2009 Real Fantasies lookbook, the AMO/Rem Koolhaas edition. Rather than functioning solely as a record of seasonal clothing, the publication belongs to a project that treats fashion imagery as a space for visual experimentation.
AMO, OMA’s research and design counterpart, works across disciplines including media, publishing and cultural research. Its involvement provides a useful framework for considering how architectural thinking can extend beyond buildings. Composition, sequencing and the relationship between images can organise a publication much as circulation, structure and spatial relationships organise architecture.
The 2009 lookbook is therefore significant as an archival document of Prada’s approach to fashion communication. It preserves not only the presentation of a particular collection, but also a creative process in which the printed page becomes an independent medium for exploring fashion’s relationship with contemporary culture.
From Publication to Architecture
A direct design lineage between the 2009 lookbook and the proposed headquarters cannot be established from the available evidence. Their relationship is better understood through a shared interdisciplinary context.
In publishing, meaning emerges through the arrangement of images, typography and visual contrasts. In architecture, it develops through materials, spatial organisation and the relationship between a building and its surroundings. Both disciplines can shape how an idea is experienced, rather than simply presenting an object for observation.
The proposed headquarters, with its emphasis on gardens and green roofs, would bring landscape into the organisation of the workplace. Its eventual architectural form will determine how these ambitions translate into the built environment.
The Prada Fall/Winter 2009 Real Fantasies XL Size Look Book – AMO/Rem Koolhaas Edition, available through The Archivary, offers collectors and researchers a tangible connection to this earlier moment of creative exchange. As an archival publication, it provides an opportunity to examine how fashion, graphic design and architectural thinking intersected in Prada’s visual communication.
Considered alongside the Milan proposal, the lookbook illuminates a broader aspect of Prada’s creative history: the development of fashion through collaborations that extend beyond clothing. Together, these projects invite a wider understanding of fashion as a cultural practice expressed through images, publications and architecture.
SOURCES and CREDITS
- Artribune, September 2026, reporting on the proposed Prada headquarters in Milan;
- The Archivary, Prada Fall/Winter 2009 Real Fantasies XL Size Look Book – AMO/Rem Koolhaas Edition
