The Four Seasons in Milan gets a make-over

The hotel of the famed luxury hospitality chain is again welcoming guests in Milan, after a meticulous restyling of the common areas designed by Patricia Urquiola The first Four Seasons hotel in continental Europe was opened in 1993 in a former 15th-century convent in Milan and immediately became an iconic metropolitan and cosmopolitan hospitality destination. It is opening again, back in all its charm and sophisticated beauty, featuring the new creative signature of the designer and architect Patricia Urquiola who has renovated its common areas, the restaurant, the bar and its picturesque garden. The second phase of renovation is already underway for the rooms, suites and meeting rooms. The renovation prioritized a sensitive, conservational re-design approach to a building steep in history. “In the Four Seasons Hotel Milano project, the goal was to renew the space, while respecting the history of the hotel and simultaneously entering into a dialogue with the urban context of Milan,” says Patricia Urquiola. “I took into account the affection felt by many regular guests for the hotel.” The challenge was to give a new interpretation to a statement-place of the city with a contemporary approach, while also accentuating the past and the original building of which the frescoes

Owner & Hotel operator: Four Seasons Interior design: Patricia Urquiola Landscape design: Flavio Pollano Furnishings: Cassina, Moroso, Poliform, Poltrona Frau, Stepevi Lighting: Aggiolight Custom Lamps, Cassina, Flos

Author: Manuela Di Mari Photo credits: Sara Magni

and the central cloister remain. The common areas of this hotel are spaces in which its personality is deeply expressed through a language of sober colors and pure shapes that refer to the sixteenthcentury heritage. We studied the relationship between light and spaces, giving emphasis to the fine original frescoes with a contemporary style.” Guests are ushered into the lobby by light, neutral colors in a subtle dialogue with the original frescoes and the walls are adorned with bronze inserts and mirrors. An intimate, elegant atmosphere dominates, created by the lightweight chandeliers and lighting fixtures by Cassina, Aggiolight Custom Lamps and Flos, fabrics and dividers in harmony with the coffered ceiling given a new double frame, rendering them a timeless

detail of the new Four Seasons. Iconic furnishing from Cassina, Poliform, Moroso, Poltrona Frau and Stepevi collections fit stylishly in this setting. A new space, Bar Stilla, opens here, extending from the lobby to the outside, the historic garden where herbs and vegetables were once grown, now an oasis of peace with boxwood bushes and laurel designed by the expert landscape architect and agronomist Flavio Pollano based on affirming nature in relationship to its shapes. Stilla extends an invitation to socialize with its elegant semicircular counter that defines the spaces’ lines. The Zelo Restaurant takes on a dual identity and becomes a bistrot during the day, led by Fabrizio Borraccino, the executive chef, who has completely recreated its menu based on seasonality and sustainability. Celebrating the place’s past, present and future, featured artworks were chosen from artists the caliber of Vanessa Beecroft, Crow Studio, Joergen Craig Lello & Tobias Arnell, lrene Kung, Sophie Ko and Matthew Shlian.