Torre Fondazione Prada, Milan. Architectural project by OMA Photo: Bas Princen (2018). Courtesy Fondazione Prada

The final, towering touch to the Fondazione Prada in Milan is ready to be unveiled in April, three years after the billionaire fashion designer and collector Miuccia Prada opened the prestigious private museum in Milan.

When the Fondazione Prada launched in May 2015, the nine-story, 197-foot Torre was still under construction. Now completed, the landmark building in the former gin distillery on the edge of Milan is set to officially open on April 20.

Its completion marks the long-awaited final stage of the more than 19,000 square metre complex designed by Rem Koolhaas with Chris van Duijn and Federico Pompignoli of OMA, the studio led by the Dutch star architect. Rotterdam-based OMA is responsible for flagship Prada stores around the world.

Torre Fondazione Prada, Milan. Architectural project by OMA. Photograph by Bas Princen. Courtesy Fondazione Prada.

Six of the floors in the wedge-shaped Torre are exhibition spaces. The other levels contain visitor facilities and a restaurant, and the building is topped off with a bar on the roof that offers a panoramic view of Milan. Some floors have a rectangular floor plan, while others have a trapezoidal one.

“By introducing so many spatial variables, the complexity of the architecture will promote an unstable, open programming,” Koolhaus said in a statement. “The interaction between the spaces and specific events or works of art offer an endless variety of conditions,” he added.

The Prada Collection includes many important works by 20th and 21st century Italian and international artists. Since launching the space in Milan, the foundation has presented shows of work by the S artist H. C. Westermann, the Austrian collective Gelitin, and Pamela Rozenkranz, among others. Last June it premiered Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s virtual reality installation about Mexican migrants attempting to cross the US border, Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible). The award-winning installation was co-produced and financed by Legendary Entertainment and Fondazione Prada.

Torre Fondazione Prada, Milan. Architectural project by OMA Photograph by Bas Princen. Courtesy Fondazione Prada.

Torre Fondazione Prada, Milan. Architectural project by OMA Photograph by Bas Princen. Courtesy Fondazione Prada.

Torre Fondazione Prada, Milan. Architectural project by OMA Photograph by Bas Princen. Courtesy Fondazione Prada.