Step onto the rooftop terrace of the Fondazione Prada Tower and the Milan skyline stretches in every direction. Anchoring this 360° view is the LS24-Lounge System, a new futuristic seating installation by architect Federico Pompignoli of PMP Architecture. Set against the terrace’s graphic black-and-white flooring and mirrored walls, the seating transforms the space into an optical playground where design, technology, and architecture converge.
While some seating is designed to quietly disappear into its surroundings – letting the sweeping skyline or bold flooring take center stage – the LS24-Lounge System does the opposite. It punctuates the terrace with gleaming chrome curves, pigmented silicone cushions, and saturated purple discs. Engineered from carbon fiber with a recycled PET core, each piece balances strength with lightness, making the system easy to rearrange for events. The cushions add a playful shock of color and are translucent enough to reveal the glow of LED lights within, giving the furniture a luminous quality that shifts from day to night.
The visual impact of the LS24-Lounge System is heightened by the terrace’s black-and-white striped flooring and mirrored parapet walls, which play tricks on your spatial perception. Reflections bounce across the surfaces, multiplying curves and circular footrests into endless repetitions. The result is a three-dimensional optical illusion where movement is exaggerated and space feels like a time warp – expanding, contracting, and shimmering depending on where you stand. In this way, the LS24-Lounge System doesn’t just occupy the rooftop; it transforms it into a living, shifting installation.
Realized in collaboration with Maila’s – an innovative leader in architecture, construction, and technology – the system is a testament to advanced research and materials. From carbon fiber structures to translucent polymer cushions, Maila’s expertise brought Pompignoli’s bold vision to life. Beyond its visual drama, the design is flexible at its core. Each piece generates two seating typologies at once: a casual, stool-like seat along the exterior and a concave, lounge-style seat on the interior. The elevated intersecting disc creates these dual zones, offering both a quick perch and a more embracing rest. As a modular system, the units can stand alone or cluster into sweeping configurations, adapting seamlessly to everything from laid-back hangs to full-scale events.
Suspended between city and sky, the LS24-Lounge System transforms Fondazione Prada’s rooftop into a shifting landscape of light, reflection, and form. More than a place to sit, it’s an experience meant to linger for years to come.
Photography courtesy of Gabriele Croppi and Prada.