Students from the Italian university Politecnico di Milano created an exhibition at the Dropcity design center that explores the political symbols of the White House with its interior design for the Milan 2026 design week.
The White House: Domestic Propaganda includes models, furniture references, visual archives, reconstructions, and over 50 student-produced drawings that explore “the White House as domestic interior and political tool”.
The exhibition was selected and designed by the students of the Interior Design Studio at Politecnico di Milano, led by David Fabio Colaci and Lola Ottolini.
“This exhibition examines how the White House, apart from being a residence, has gradually become a powerful symbolic and anthropological entity,” said the team. “A functional structure that links intimacy, representation, and media democracy.”
“It is not just a place to live but also a machine of representation that can set the public’s perception of its spaces, objects and practices.”
The exhibition consists of seven main installations scattered throughout the tunnel exhibition space at Dropcity. Each one focuses on a different part of the White House household, from the small spaces occupied by service staff to the gifts received by US presidents throughout history.
Projects are displayed on metal shelves, spread out on the floor or placed on plinths.
This includes a large “round rug” in the center that redefines the leisure activities of each president and his family.
It translates these hobbies into patterns or symbols to create a “home environment”.
“The Leisure Carpet redefines presidential entertainment as an interactive space,” the team said. “Inside the White House, the free time of the president and his family becomes part of politics.”
“The installation takes the form of an oval carpet inspired by the Oval Office, which transforms the institution’s decision-making symbol into a domestic space.”
Spread across a long table, an embroidered tablecloth explores the eating habits of thirteen US presidents with food and health policies inspired by the various presidential terms.
In this example, food themes, such as ice cream, hamburger, and beer, are compared to policies and written words such as Obamacare and phrases such as the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, a law enacted by President Reagan in the 1980s, which raised the legal drinking age to 21.
Another installation investigates the White House fence as a “defensive and symbolic resource” through photographs, while a 3D painting explores the corridors and back rooms of the White House frequented by “modern-day bully workers”.
In light of President Trump’s recent proposed changes to the White House, such as a grand ballroom made of gold, cabinet minister David Fabio Colaci told Dezeen that the exhibition is intended to focus on the architecture itself, as opposed to Trump’s office.
“When we started the research, the information available was (and still is) very limited,” Colaci told Dezeen. “We gathered some information and put it into the blueprints for all the changes in the White House.”
“However, in order not to focus too much on Trump’s office, but on the White House itself, we treated it at the same level as all other local changes.”
“Next year’s research will focus more on the ballroom.”
Last year, Dropcity presented an exhibition focused on prison furniture during Milan design week.
The Dezeen team recently rounded up twenty one more unmissable shows and coverage of this year’s show.
Image courtesy of Dropcity.
The White House: Domestic Propaganda will be on display from April 19 to April 26, 2026 at Dropcity, Milan, Italy. See the Dezeen events guide for more architecture and design events around the world.