{"id":529402,"date":"2026-04-14T00:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529402\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:06:17","slug":"dropcity-explores-performative-architecture-of-the-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529402\/","title":{"rendered":"Dropcity explores “performative architecture” of the White House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students at the Italian university Politecnico di Milano have created an exhibition at Dropcity<\/a> design centre that explores the political symbolism of the White House<\/a> through its interior design for Milan design week 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The White House: Domestic Propaganda includes models, furniture references, visual archives, reconstructions, and diagrams produced by more than 50 students that explore “the White House as a domestic interior and a political device”.<\/p>\n

\"DropcityStudents at the Politecnico di Milano have created an exhibition at Dropcity that explores its political symbolism<\/p>\n

The exhibition was curated and designed by the students of the Interior Design Studio at the Politecnico di Milano<\/a>, which is led by Davide Fabio Colaci and Lola Ottolini.<\/p>\n

“The exhibition explores how the White House, beyond being a residence, has gradually become a powerful symbolic and anthropological device,” said the team. “A performative architecture that intertwines intimacy, representation, and media democracy.”<\/p>\n

\"WhiteSeven installations explore different domestic elements of the White House<\/p>\n

“It is not only a place of dwelling but also a machine of representation capable of staging an idea of society through its spaces, objects, and rituals.”<\/p>\n

The exhibition consists of seven main installations dispersed throughout the tunnel exhibition space at Dropcity<\/a>. Each is focused on different domestic elements of the White House, from the liminal spaces inhabited by the service staff to gifts received by US presidents throughout history.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteThe installations focus on everything from service spaces to gifts received by US presidents<\/p>\n

The projects are displayed on metal shelves, spread across the floor or placed on plinths.<\/p>\n

This includes the large “oval carpet” in the centre of the space that reinterprets the leisure activities of each president and their family.<\/p>\n

\"DropcityThey are spread out on shelving and plinths<\/p>\n

It translates these hobbies into patterns or symbols in order to create “a domestic surface”.<\/p>\n

“Leisure Carpet reinterprets presidential leisure as a space of negotiation,” said the team. “Inside the White House, the free time of the president and their family becomes part of a political choreography.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Eating<\/p>\n

Dropcity exhibition exposes hidden violence of prison furniture\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

“The installation takes the form of an oval carpet inspired by the Oval Office, transforming the symbol of institutional decision-making into a domestic surface.”<\/p>\n

Spread out on a long table, a hand-embroidered tablecloth explores the dietary habits of thirteen US presidents with food and health policies championed during the various presidencies.<\/p>\n

\"DropcityA tablecloth contrasts the dietary habits of US presidents with food policies<\/p>\n

In this instance, motifs of food, such as ice cream, a hamburger, and beer, are contrasted with policies and written words such as Obamacare and phrases such as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, legislation passed by President Reagan in the 1980s, which raised the legal drinking age to 21.<\/p>\n

Another installation investigates the White House fences as “a defensive and symbolic device” through images, while a 3D-diagram explores the corridors and back rooms of the White House frequented by “enslaved workers to contemporary butlers”.<\/p>\n

\"WhiteOther installations explore the relationship between media and domestic space in the White House<\/p>\n

In light of President Trump’s recent proposed changes to the White House<\/a>, such as a large gilded ballroom, curator Davide Fabio Colaci told Dezeen that the exhibition is meant to focus on the architecture itself, as opposed to the Trump presidency.<\/p>\n

“When we began the research, the available information was (and still is) too limited,” Colaci told Dezeen. “We gathered some information and included it in the drawings of all the transformations of the White House.”<\/p>\n

“However, in order not to focus too heavily on the Trump presidency, but on the White House itself, we treated it on the same level as all other spatial transformations.”<\/p>\n

“Next year’s research will focus specifically on the ballroom.”<\/p>\n

Last year, Dropcity showcased an exhibition focused on prison furniture during Milan design week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dezeen team recently rounded up twenty-one other unmissable exhibitions and installations for this year’s fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is courtesy of Dropcity.<\/p>\n

The White House: Domestic Propaganda is on show from 19 April to 26 April 2026 at Dropcity, Milan, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide<\/a>\u00a0for more architecture and design events around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students at the Italian university Politecnico di Milano have created an exhibition at Dropcity design centre that explores…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,183395,96,479,42329,94574,40339,40340,41654,56,54,55,3285],"class_list":{"0":"post-529402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-dropcity","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-italy","15":"tag-milan","16":"tag-milan-design-week","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sectioninteriors","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-unitedkingdom","23":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}