The queue outside Palazzo Citterio this year was one of the longest at the Milan Design Week. Thanks to a highly decorated facade, the project curated by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation — without the involvement of any brand — attracted many enthusiasts and curious onlookers, revealing a broader intervention inside the building designed to show the direction in which Uzbek design is moving
The pavilion with the longest queue at Design Week stays in Milan
Among the most visited installations of the week, Uzbekistan’s project at Palazzo Citterio becomes a temporarily permanent space: a contemporary yurt between memory, landscape, and environmental changes, open to visitors until the summer.
View Article details
- Nicola Aprile
- 07 May 2026
Part of it was a pavilion that, at the request of the Pinacoteca di Brera, will remain on-site and will be open to visitors until July 31. The Garden Pavilion, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast, founder of WHY Architecture, and realized by Black Engineering, pays homage to a specific type of architecture found in the Karakalpakstan region of Uzbekistan.
The yurt — a large tent rooted in the heritage of nomadic populations — here becomes a device to highlight themes such as hospitality, memory, and cultural landscape in territories that have undergone profound environmental changes over the last sixty years due to the progressive drying up of the Aral Sea.
The lattice structure and felt covering, typical of the traditional yurt, are designed to be dismantled, transported, and reassembled in different contexts. In the coming months, however, this fascinating space will not only be a place to explore but the home of a dense program of events and talks curated by the Pinacoteca di Brera.
“The Garden Pavilion is conceived as a place of encounter and cultural connection, where people from all backgrounds can gather. This extended stay will allow it to serve the community even more, and I look forward to hearing the dialogues and observing the collaborations that will arise within it,” stated Kulapat Yantrasast, a Thai-American architect who trained under Tadao Ando, and who has built his research around the idea that architecture should create connections between people, places, and cultures.
Opening image: Garden Pavilion 'Deconstructed Yurt' by Kulapat Yantrasast and WHY Architecture, Palazzo Citterio. When Apricots Blossom, Milan Design Week 2026. Courtesy of ACDF.