Architect Lina Ghotmeh transformed the historic courtyard of Palazzo Litta into an immersive architectural landscape titled Metamorphosis in Motion at the Milan Design Week 2026. Created as the central installation for MoscaPartners Variations 2026, the project was created as a lived spatial experience where movement, memory, and human connection became the true material of design.
The labyrinth-like structure reinterpreted the courtyard as a passage and destination, inviting visitors to slow down inside one of the busiest weeks of the design calendar.
The installation occupied the Cortile d’Onore, Palazzo Litta’s grand Baroque courtyard, a place historically associated with hospitality, ceremony, and public gathering. Ghotmeh chose to work with its symmetry, proportions, and visual axes. Her design followed the geometry already embedded in the site, creating a 17-meter-per-side modular composition made from 18 MDF structures finished in textured pink surfaces using varying tones of Milesi coatings.
The strong pink palette was intentionally unexpected against the historic stone façade. Instead of creating contrast for spectacle alone, Ghotmeh described it as a way to produce softness, gentleness, and emotional warmth within the monumental setting.
Architecture as Journey
Ghotmeh’s work often follows what she calls “Archaeology of the Future,” an approach rooted in listening to place, memory, and material history before designing intervention. In Metamorphosis in Motion, this philosophy became central. She treated the courtyard as a threshold space or a place between arrival and encounter. Through curved geometries, sequential pathways, and constantly shifting perspectives, the installation guided visitors through a journey.
The labyrinth was designed to be discovered gradually, allowing architecture to unfold through walking. As she explained, the courtyard becomes “a living stage where architecture, memory, and movement converge,” shifting from a monumental frame into a collective ecosystem shaped by participation.
This idea of participation was essential to the project. Ghotmeh did not want the work to be merely photographed and passed through. She specifically stated that “it was important for us that the space be experienced and lived in.” That intention shaped every programmatic layer inside the maze. Informal seating by Avalon Italia, a dedicated talk space, a meditative zone, and an immersive sound area encouraged visitors to pause rather than circulate quickly.
A curated scent experience by Scent Company introduced notes of cypress, cedar, and olibanum, referencing the landscapes of Lebanon and creating a deeply personal sensory connection to Ghotmeh’s homeland. The installation also included food tasting stations featuring Italian brands Tre Marie and Vitavigor, alongside a pop-up bookshop by Frab’s Magazine, turning the courtyard into a place of exchange and not just observation.
A Labyrinth of Calm During Design Week Chaos
The conceptual strength of Metamorphosis in Motion lies in its refusal of spectacle for spectacle’s sake. Milan Design Week is often defined by visual overload, fast movement, and constant stimulation. Ghotmeh responded to that condition by creating an architectural pause. She described the project as a response to a world “bombarded from several standpoints,” saying she wanted to create “a place that cherishes joy and human connection.”
The labyrinth, therefore, functioned less as an object and more as an antidote or a temporary urban refuge where visitors could rest, talk, reflect, and reconnect with physical space.
Its title, Metamorphosis in Motion, reflects this transformation. Metamorphosis was also the curatorial theme of MoscaPartners Variations 2026, exploring change, adaptation, and layered identities. Ghotmeh translated that idea spatially: a single courtyard unfolded into multiple emotional and social conditions. Pathways became pauses, circulation became encounter, and the ceremonial courtyard evolved into what she described as a “common good.” The installation allowed change to happen through use. Visitors themselves completed the architecture through their presence and movement.
In this way, Metamorphosis in Motion stood out as one of the most memorable installations of Milan Design Week 2026. It showed how temporary architecture can still carry permanence in experience. Through color and rhythm, Lina Ghotmeh created a pink labyrinth alongside a thoughtful spatial narrative about how architecture can hold memory while making room for new forms of collective life.
Image Credit: Takumi Ota and Nathalie Krag
Explore Courses
.jpg "Ondrej Chybik - Rethinking Architecture")
