Fondazione Francesco Morelli at Milan Design Week: two projects

Milan Design Week 2026 offers Fondazione Francesco Morelli and IED an opportunity to demonstrate what design can achieve when it is placed at the service of people: young individuals arriving from all over the world, the communities that inhabit the city, and those living at its margins.

This year, the Foundation is present with two projects connected by a shared thread: design as a tool for inclusion, access and social responsibility.

The Glitch Camp returns for its third edition, hosted for the first time at the Ex Macello in Porta Vittoria by Near Sgr, a post-industrial site now at the heart of ARIA, the major urban regeneration project that will encompass the entire area and host the new international IED campus. The Glitch Camp is made possible thanks to the support of Fondazione Cariplo, which has long been committed to promoting social cohesion and local development.

Fare Posto. Cronache e Design dal Centro Sammartini is a project promoted by Fondazione Francesco Morelli and developed by the Master of Arts School at IED Milano in collaboration with Comune di Milano. Seven students from the Advanced Diploma in Interior Design. Spatial Practices for Gathering Cultures worked side by side with the staff of the Centro Sammartini to rethink first reception spaces through three prototypes, on display from 20 to 24 April, near Dropcity. The exhibition opens on 19 April with institutional greetings by Councillors Lamberto Bertolé and Donatella Ronchi, followed by a talk on hospitality and vulnerability featuring writer and architect Gianni Biondillo, Davide Fabio Colaci and Miriam Pasqui, moderated by Federica Zambeletti.

“At IED, we are working to ensure that Design Week becomes an opportunity to present projects with a clear and positive social impact, while keeping attention focused on urgent issues that remain so even after the week itself is over. The third edition of The Glitch Camp — for the first time in the spaces of the Ex Macello that we will see brought back to life — highlights how important it is for design to retain a democratic nature and remain accessible to younger generations. This is IED’s educational model: designing to trigger responsible processes that endure over time,” says Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of the IED Group and President of Fondazione Francesco Morelli.

IED is also present at the Interni Materiae exhibition at the University of Milan with VIVO — Abitare l’emergenza, a full-scale installation proposing a temporary post-disaster housing solution designed to be set up in Italian gymnasiums within 48 hours.

Different projects, a shared vision: the belief that design culture can — and must — generate real impact.