Formafantasma builds modular ocean exhibition for Prada and IOC

A lifelike blue crab and a turtle sit inside four modular cases at Prada's Luna Rossa sailing base in Cagliari, the centrepieces of Ocean & Climate Village, a science exhibition that opened 10 October and runs through 15 October 2026.

The Italian design studio Formafantasma built the show for UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Prada's Sea Beyond education program, using a disassemblable aluminium-and-wood frame that can be packed up, shipped, and rebuilt.

Prada calls the show a "travelling science exhibition." Formafantasma built the lightweight structure to do exactly that: travel. After Cagliari, the cases, models, and screens can move to the next stop with no new fabrication. The joinery uses bolts rather than glue, so the pieces come apart without specialist tools.

What does the show actually cover?

The exhibition walks visitors through four chapters of ocean science:

• One Ocean
• The Climate Engine
• Biodiversity
• Ocean Anomalies

Together, those sections map how the ocean drives weather, supports marine life, and signals climate stress. Formafantasma worked with a craftsman from an Italian natural history museum to build the lifelike animals by hand.

The studio also staggered the floor heights inside the space to keep children moving. A printed leaflet explains the wall terms, including CO2 and biodiversity, in plain language. Designers added multiple levels so kids could lean in, look up, and stay longer.

Why is a fashion brand running an ocean exhibition?

Prada's Sea Beyond program has backed ocean-education work in schools and online since 2019. The brand also owns the Luna Rossa America's Cup sailing syndicate, and the syndicate's Cagliari base sits directly on the water. That setting gave the show its front door.

IOC senior programme officer Francesca Santoro told Dezeen at the opening that the team wanted the science to land with non-experts. "Sometimes the concepts [on show] are very abstract for us," she said.

"I could tell you data, I could show you graphs and a number of scientific studies, but especially for lay people, it's important to find the hooks."

What does this change for visitors walking up to the Cagliari base?

They get a pop-up museum that treats the ocean the way a children's science center treats the human body: hands-on, picture-led, and built to travel.

Santoro said the design choices do the heavy lifting. "I guess you will always remember this because it's beautiful," she said. "It makes [the information] look really nice." The point, she added, was to "use design as an educational tool and as a way to attract people's attention."

Formafantasma is no stranger to environmental work. In 2025, the studio published a children's picture book about the natural world. Earlier in 2026, the Serpentine Galleries in London named the studio its ecology advisor.

For Prada and the IOC, the bet is simple: a museum built to move reaches more people than one bolted to a single site. The next stop for Ocean & Climate Village is not yet on the books, but the aluminium skeleton is already designed to leave Cagliari, ship out, and rise again somewhere else.