When the Triennale Design Museum inaugurates its new permanent exhibition on April 9th, Italy will be getting a new museum dedicated to the country's best known works of design and architecture. Pulling from the Triennale's 1,600 piece collection, the exhibition will focus on the history of modern Italian design from 1946 to 1981 and will include iconic pieces such as Gio Ponti's Superleggera chair and Ettore Sottsass' "Carlton" Room Divider.

For Stefano Boeri, the President of Triennale Milano, the new museum is an opportunity to expand their permanent collection and revitalize the historic institution. It is the first stage of a broader long-term project "to make the institution an important international center devoted to this discipline," he says.

The Museum of Italian Design will be taking over the ground floor of the Triennale's existing building, the historic Palazzo dell'Arte designed by Giovanni Muzio. Eventually, the plans are to expand the collection and the museum. An international design competition for the extension will be launched in May 2019.

Joseph Grima, founder of the Italian architecture and research studio Space Caviar, will be in charge of directing the new dedicated space. Curatorial work is nothing new for the architect, who helped open the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial to international success. Under Grima, the project hopes to be "even more than a place where the historical memory of Italian design is preserved and protected. "The Museo del Design Italiano aspires to be a place of inspiration, in the most ancient sense of the word ‘museum'," he says.