In Superstudio’s art-garden the scenery prolongs the desire for holidays and invites you to relax: beach furniture and outdoor games invite you to rethink solution for living as open air as possible even in the city.

The latest research has confirmed that we are an indoor generation, spending 90% of our time indoors: that’s more than twenty hours a day. The result is a new “Outdoor Generation” that wants to live in homes and urban spaces without boundaries, using versatile systems that can be configured in response to changes in the season and in our lifestyles, combining the functions and uses of furnishings in new ways. The installation is all about this new way of living in open-air spaces, from our own gardens to public parks, inspired by the outdoor furnishings traditionally associated with beach resorts. 

Even before the pandemic, an increasing demand for quality has been registered as regards both public and private spaces.  To stay outside, pleasantly, in places designed to live in, not missing the comforts of household spaces. A request that has been accelerated and that has found many new responses. The outdoor gets back to being a reference scenario for designers and companies. But there are brands born around this theme, many years ago, and designers that have been designing to give substance to new forms of conviviality for many years. This is the case of Pedrali and CMP Design, that for eight years has been designing outdoor furniture for the same company.

Multi-purpose spaces, outside and inside
“We realised we need more space, more distances and that we want to occupy also in a different and elegant way, outdoor spaces of our homes, taking care of gardens, balconies and terraces”, says Monica Pedrali, “For our company it is a matter of continuing on a long established pathway; roots of Pedrali lie right in the outdoor world. Our father Mario has in fact began his activity in 1963 producing garden furniture in wrought iron”...

The desire for outdoor life has become so perceptible that companies today move among design science and research to fulfil it at best. An interesting initiative by Pratic that every year, in collaboration with various Universities, studies people’s desires and market trends.

The human brain always favours outdoor structures or better, nothing like outside protection structures can balance the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere of the human brain. This is one of the interesting results of the new neuroscientific research “Design for Well-being” born from the long-time collaboration between Pratic and Dr. Stefano Calabrese’s staff at IULM University and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
“This is the third research we make in the last years with the same partners”, says Edi Orioli, vice president of Pratic, “After those on colours and natural light”. “We were interested in the colour” he continues, “As a couple of years ago we launched a new painting system Qualicoat Seaside that protects against the salt corrosion risk, with the application of high performance anti-aging paint provided by top international suppliers on the market. Regarding light, it is easily understood; our core business is to protect clients from direct light, from heat and the most bothersome sunlight rays”.

Following three months of enforced isolation, we are rediscovering the joy of being outside, equipping balconies and terraces, and in the luckiest cases, creating proper outdoor rooms with the most advanced pergola systems. However, how are the buying habits changing and what are clients asking for? We talked about it with Luca Pangallo, sales manager of Ecliss, one of the most popular showrooms in Milan in the field.

How has market changed in the past few years? 
Up until a few years ago, the outdoor was regarded just as a niche market. Furnishing outdoor spaces used to be felt as a secondary need, unlike what used to be for the rest of the house. Most of the time, lower quality products were chosen. Whereas today, the outdoor is reaching the same importance as the indoor: selected with precision, with great attention to details, to quality of the furniture and above all to the atmosphere, to the experience that the client expects to live in these spaces...

A small green space has become the dream of Italians who have understood how smart-working and possible new lockdown would benefit. Many architects are already working to propose their solutions. The multifunctional proposal by Sandro Meneghello and Marco Paolelli, young and already established designers who concentrate a lot of their design on the outdoors, has all the characteristics to satisfy the most varied needs. Probably yours too.

"Balconies also have an important real estate value in the city", Marco Paolelli, of the Meneghello Paolelli Associati studio tells us, "We therefore asked ourselves why not work on a system that would enhance them easily, with a simple assembly and a wide versatility of construction". The health crisis that followed the project made all the spaces that allowed to be outdoors even more precious.Thus was born Urban Balcony, the project for Unopiù, recently presented in its first version but already engineered also in the "extended" version...

In many cities of Europe, authorization procedures are being lightened and speeded up to allow public places, not just bars and restaurants, to set up outdoor areas. So did Milan too, which published its guidelines this week. What is happening is a real revolution of outdoor spaces, especially in big cities. For a year, Superstudio has been working on the future of "being out", in all its forms, domestic and public, which was to be and will be a strong theme of the next Superdesign Show. This acceleration imposed by the health emergency is also making it possible to rethink urban spaces that are little used or less used due to a contraction of vehicle flows in favor of mobility on two wheels. A vast field of experimentation for designers and for the many solutions made available by production.

The new provisions of the Municipality of Milan, valid until the 31st of October, allow for an increase in the spaces available for all commercial activities and provide for simplified procedures to require the occupation of green areas, squares, sidewalks with tables, chairs, umbrellas, platforms, exhibition spaces. Among the main innovations, the free of charge of COSAP, the issue of the permit by the Municipality within 15 days, the possibility of obtaining spaces even if not in the immediate proximity of its activity...

Never as in this uncertain Phase2 the desire to go out, to be outdoors, to enjoy the fresh air and the sun become domineering. It is not just an emotional desire, but the urge to rethink our daily lives in different spaces, open and in symbiosis with nature, where you can also study, work, play sports ...

Research in recent years confirms that we are an "indoor generation", which spends 90% of its time in enclosed spaces, over 20 hours a day. And we do it unconsciously, because our perception is often different. Even so, very often, we live in sealed spaces, badly lit and poorly ventilated, harmful to our health.
Often forced to live "inside" -  and the health emergency has highlighted all the limits of the places we live in -  we have an increasing desire to "stay outside", in contact with nature and immersed in it.