Zona Tortona

As Wallpaper* City Guide Milan puts a nice photo of it, I try to go inside Teatro Armani, Giorgio Armani's headquarter building designed by Tadao Ando.

The name of Tadao Ando keeps popping up these days. I still don't really understand what he's great about. So I want to see his architecture with my own eyes.

But security guards at the entrance tell me that I cannot enter because people work inside. This is a caveat of Wallpaper* City Guide: it does do an excellent job to quickly overview the city with many beautiful photos, but lacks in practical information at all.


The area around Teatro Armani, Zona Tortona, turns out to be an interesting place to walk around, however. I come across a contemporary art gallery, MyOwnGallery (via Tortona 27), where I find Simo Neri's walls, curtains, and falls of myriads of regular-sized photos (see right) quite interesting.

I also find a "showroom" inside the courtyard (you don't know what's inside until you open the door; it's a tiny boutique for women), a stylish cafe (Fiore Food & Drink at via Savona 59), a fancy restaurant, etc. A bit flashy Nhow hotel is also here. The major areas of Milan give you a sense of conservatism, but here alternative things in Milanese style are going on. It is a shame that I don't have enough time to walk around the backstreets in this area.