The DINING ROOM SESSIONS explore the communal nature of this space, examining how kitchens have shaped socio-economic norms and gender biases. The sessions look into domesticity and forms of gatherings as political resistance.

To quote from Alice Rawsthorn’s contextual introduction to the Dining Room, to which you can listen in full below:

“Rituals of eating have been defining themes of the home throughout history. Eating together is steeped in warmth, friendship, and generosity, but also in the showiness and power-plays that are core elements of homes and rooms like this. All of which makes the dining room – and, tellingly, its absence from so many homes – a barometer of social inequality through the ages.”

The podcast "Prada Frames: Being Home" is a project produced by KoozArch in partnership with Prada, and curated by FormaFantasma for Prada. You can listen to episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Bios

Aric Chen is General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands’ national museum and institute for architecture, design, and digital culture, in Rotterdam. American-born, Chen previously served as Professor and founding Director of the Curatorial Lab at the College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai; Curatorial Director of the Design Miami fairs in Miami Beach and Basel; Creative Director of Beijing Design Week; and Lead Curator for Design and Architecture at M+, Hong Kong, where he oversaw the formation of that new museum’s design and architecture collection and program.

Sam Chermayeff is architect, designer, and teacher undertaking projects worldwide. Trained in architecture at the University of Texas at Austin and the Architectural Association, London, Sam is a founding partner and director in the architecture firm June 14 Meyer-Grohbrügge & Chermayeff and Sam Chermayeff Office. With offices in New York and Berlin, the studios work on a wide range of design-driven projects ranging from larger multi-unit residential buildings in Berlin to several small houses in New York and furniture all over. He has taught at Columbia GSAAP, MSA Münster, The Royal College of Art, DIA, Dessau, Cornell University, and the Architectural Association.

Natalia Grabowska is curator and researcher based in London. She is Curator at Large, Architecture and Site-specific Projects at Serpentine, London. She also works with artist Alvaro Barrington on his artistic, architectural, and community projects. She previously worked in international institutions and galleries, including V.O Curations, London, Lisson Gallery, London, Artists Space, New York, and Sprüth Magers, London, and was part of curatorial teams for site-specific exhibitions and biennales. Her curatorial practice and research focus on site-responsive projects and investigate how built environments shape our behaviors and emotional responses.

Dominique Petit-Frère is founder of Limbo Accra, a spatial design practice transforming unfinished architecture into new opportunities. She is a design strategist working in collaboration with architects, designers, and artists by connecting with places, institutions, and people through long-term, transdisciplinary networks. Through these in-depth relationships that crosscut the architecture, design, and social activism scenes, she aims to find intuitive and innovative solutions that do more with what there is already.

Anna Puigjaner is a PhD architect, co-founder of MAIO, an architectural office based in Barcelona. Her work, linked to feminist studies, is focused on inclusive domestic architectures able to redefine former biased structures. She is currently Professor of Architecture and Care at ETH Zürich. Formerly, she taught at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation GSAPP at Columbia University, New York, at the Royal College of Arts, London, and at the Barcelona School of Architecture ETSAB/ETSAV - UPC. Her research project Kitchenless City was awarded the Wheelwright Prize (2016) by the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Alice Rawsthorn is an award-winning design critic and the author of critically acclaimed books on design, including Hello World: Where Design Meets Life, Design as an Attitude and, most recently, Design Emergency: Building a Better Future. She is a co-founder with Paola Antonelli of the Design Emergency project to investigate design's role as a force for positive change. In all her work, Alice champions design's potential to address complex social, political and ecological challenges.

FormaFantasma is a research-based design studio investigating the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping the discipline of design today. Whether designing for a client or developing self – initiated projects, the studio applies the same rigorous attention to context, processes and details. Formafantasma’s analytical nature translates in meticulous visual outcomes, products and strategies.

About

Prada Frames is a multidisciplinary symposium curated by FormaFantasma for Prada that explores the complex relationship between the natural environment and design. The collective effort aims to frame, analyse, contextualise, and define new perspectives on a plethora of themes. For its third edition titled ‘Being Home,’ Prada Frames examines the living environment as a framework to address contemporary challenges. The home is not merely a source of comfort; it acts as a shelter and an infrastructure of services. The extensive program of events takes place during Milan’s Salone del Mobile from Sunday, April 14 through Tuesday, April 16 2024 at the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi in Milan.