S: Salone del Futuro: open, connected, and extended: a new sense and purpose for the Chamber of Commerce of Milan

The “Salone del Futuro” ambitions arose from the Chamber of Commerce’s (Camera di Commercio di Milano, Monza Brianza, and Lodi) recognition that the online, digital world is increasingly changing how services are provided, constantly becoming more effec- tive, accessible, and faster. These are features that the Chamber’s clientele are looking for, that public administrators and staff can benefit from, and that offer an opportunity to re-envision spaces, services, and systems. Hence, the Registry Office (Salone Anagrafico) in Milan’s Palazzo Turati, a symbolic space and functional base for the commercial and entrepreneurial fabric of the territory, sought to create a more open, contemporary environment that supports and facilitates contact and dialogue between the institution and its citi- zens. The Chamber of Commerce and Politecnico di Milano worked together with systemic and spatial co-design processes that merged multiple functions, features, scales, and contexts in proposing how public interiors can be transformed following new trends in the digi- tization of public services. Shifts in the need for, and typologies of, physical presence, amplified by the eventual pandemic, allowed for new and expanded uses of spaces and transformed definitions of public services and work. Since much of the digital services could address routine and simpler operations, opportunities opened for a higher order of work and engagement between the public and staff, and an extended connection to more of the public with new services, systems, and spatial typologies. Beyond working directly with the administration and staff at the Salone, the faculty and students from PoliMi’s School of Design were able to directly engage the clientele, the general public, and various professionals related to media and communication design. Specific didactic engagements included design studios with undergraduate students in Interior and Product Design, plus graduate students in the Product Service System Design (PSSD) Master’s Degree program.