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MAURIZIO LAI ARCHITECTS
Maurizio Lai is one of Italy’s most interesting contemporary ar-
chitects and designers.
He trained between Venice and Milan, where he lives and works.
After a long stint working as a set designer – an experience which
taught him an appreciation for craft, intended as the art of making –
he founded Lai Studio in 1990.
He believes that an architect’s job is more similar to that of a di-
rector than to that of an artist. Maurizio Lai’s projects, in fact, like
the best films, are about expression rather than form.
In his many award-winning restaurant designs, experience comes
before consumption, with light sculptures, plays of volumes and
glass, mirrors and crystals reflecting the light and the gaze, cre-
ating spectacular optical effects and perspectives.
This philosophy also runs through the new IYO Aalto, Claudio
Liu’s second restaurant following the Michelin-starred IYO Taste
Experience, and the subject of this interview. Located on the first
floor of the Solaria Tower – Italy’s tallest residential tower – in the
heart of the new Porta Nuova district, IYO Aalto offers the people
of Milan, and not only, a new and exciting vision of contemporary
Japan.
What was Claudio Liu’s brief and how did you interpret it?
I’ve known Claudio Liu for a long time, he is a class act who has nev-
er put a foot wrong. When he decided to open the new restaurant
in Piazza Alvar Aalto, in Porta Nuova, he still didn’t have a clear idea.
He knew the restaurant would be a twin of IYO Taste Experience
and that the cuisine would have a strong Japanese influence, but
the project itself developed along the way.
