For the 2013 Milan Design Week, Lexus International presented a three part installation in the Museum della Permanente, located in Via Turati Milan. The general installation itself projects a cohesive image of the cultural ambitions of Lexus, providing an environment in which three entirely different formalistic approaches managed to convey a coherent message of quality, luxury and an acute and enlarged view of the relationship between man and nature.
The 3 connected yet discrete sections of the Installation were entitled ‘Amazing Flow’, ‘Lexus Design Awards’ and ‘Lexus Concept’.
The co-curation, co-production, design and executive architecture services this year (as for the past 4 years) was commissioned to Tim Power Architects_TP/A w/ Mak8.
Amazing Flow:
Supervisions by Toyo Ito (with his first project ‘post Pritzker’), Concept and Design by Ahihisa Hirata, Concept Engineering by Arup Japan. The 3d parametric and generative spline modeling, final design, engineering and supervision were by TP/A, Mak8 (w Castiglioni Engineering). The event production was headed by Hakuhodo.
This unique architectural experiment was conceived entirely as a transportable installation. The complex forms, generated by algorithms derived from natural currents of wind, was constructed of lightweight aluminum and skinned in a continuous ribbon of flowing and concentrically curved wooden slats. Wind and vapor seethed from within the organic structure. Visitors could walk along and within the curvaceous floating structure, sensing a possible vision of the city of tomorrow through an exploration of nature’s impact on design. People, cars, wind, water and other elements interact as a single entity, leading to new ways of living and moving.

Lexus Concept:
Design, Production, Co-Curation. TP/A w/ Mak8. This space formed the narrative introduction of the general approach of Lexus to design, nature and production. The existing attributes of the Museo della Permanente were stripped back to their origins, choosing to exalt the magnificent architecture. Light and space became the major protagonists, emphasized by the precise placement of 25 rough hewn geometric landmarks, which were cut and and hand finished from a single felled Larch tree, specifically selected in Val Pusteria, Alto Adige. These simple seats were distributed in the open space in a manner allowing individuals or groups the participatory viewing of the various videos, including interviews with Toyo Ito, Akihisa Hirata, the making of Amazing Flow, etc.

Lexus Design Awards:
Design, Production, Co-Curation by TP/A w/ Mak8 – (Based on the original concept of Winkreative). The Lexus Design Award was an international design competition for next-generation innovators.
This year’s theme – ‘Motion’ – was launched during Tokyo Designers’ week and attracted interest from designers across the world with over 1,200 entries received. The jury was composed of 8 leading International Design experts, and the spaces for the two winning entries co-curated with Junya Ishigami and Sam Hecht.