For over twenty years East End Studios has set the industry standards for event spaces in Italy. The studios create a multifunctional complex that managed to reinvent an industrial district, transforming it into a truly unique venue.
Located on an area of ten thousand square meters by Via Mecenate in Milan, and divided in spaces of different sizes, the East End Studios were born from the early 1900’s red brick industrial buildings of the airplane factory Caproni di Taliedo.
The industrial redevelopment of the whole area began in the mid 90s with the Spazio Antologico thanks to the collaboration with the architect Marek Piotrowsky, a pioneer of the exhibition design. The East End Studios were then developed with new locations, each with a specific identity.
The studios offer an industrial archeologic aesthetic alongside the most modern technologies and production services for events. This is a place to host shows and events of any kind thanks to the flexibility of the independent and customisable spaces.
1910 was an important year for the city of Milan when a massive international flight contest took place in the Taliedo area; it was called “Circuito Aereo Internazionale”. The desire of creating an articulated structure that would also include a seaplane base directed the selection of this area of the city, rich with canals and swamps. The structure was called Aerodromo d’Italia. Its quadrilateral perimeter extended between Via Mecenate, Viale Ungheria, Via Salomone and the Strada Paullese. Due to its extension many farmhouses had been demolished except the Cascina Taliedo, preserved since it was Alessandro Manzoni’s favourite destination for hikes out of the city center.
The event was a massive success. Over a hundred thousand paying people showed up to admire the flight evolutions and competitions. The area was specially equipped with all sort of services, from grandstands to bars and even a tram line. This is when the destiny and the vocation of the area were marked by the flight and events that will define the intended use of the main architectures until present time. The two World Wars and the establishment of Officine Caproni determined the increase of the construction of iron and concrete hangars along both sides of Via Mecenate towards the Cascina Monlue’.
Between the two wars the Aerodromo kept its activities hosting shows that promoted Milan as a prestigious exhibition center in the European scene, amongst all the one dedicated to aeronautics in 1919. With the end of WWII started the decline of Officine Caproni that lead to the desertion of the area until the 60s when the residential development gave birth to what is known today as quartiere Forlanini.
In the 90s the hangars dedicated to the assembly lines of the renowned and futuristic biplane and triplane bombers found a new life thanks to the recovery of the industrial archeology. The new intended use maintained the grandiosity and spatiality of the original constructions.
Founded in 1995, the East End Studios contributed massively to the recovery and the urban redevelopment of the area that since then is proposed to be one of the most prominent for tv production and large and medium events.