Escaping city sidewalks and standstill traffic for a botanical garden’s grassy lawn lined with rows of trees, butterfly gardens, and flower bushes seems like a deal most of us would be willing to make. While they offer a nice respite from the bustle of city life, trips to the botanical garden also make for insightful learning experiences. In the Brera Botanical Garden, in Milan, energy company Eni and international design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati have introduced Natural Capital, one of the largest data visualizations ever produced to showcase the importance of trees for a sustainable world.
With sights set on being one of the largest data visualizations in the world, Natural Capital demonstrates how trees store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, driving home the importance of forest protection. Extending over Milan’s 500-square-meter garden, Natural Capital showcases plots of floating bubbles that project the amount of carbon dioxide their corresponding trees can capture and store during their life cycle. Walking through Brera Botanical Garden, guests will be met with three-dimensional graphics that showcase the key role that forests play in providing living things with healthy air to breathe, hinting at the symbiotic relationship between trees and humans. Bringing the point full circle, guests will be greeted at Brera Botanical Garden’s entrance by a stationary, giant sphere that illustrates the average amount of carbon dioxide produced by the human body per year.
Speaking on the contrast between the trees’ floating bubbles and the park’s giant stationary sphere, the designers say that it “illuminates the fundamental role that plants play in guaranteeing the planet’s health and limiting global warming. The comparison allows visitors to understand the symbiosis between humans and nature: the former produces carbon dioxide, the latter stores it.” Continuing their collaboration in exploring new circular economy and sustainability paradigms, CRA and Eni remain committed to protecting and conserving forests through decarbonization projects that aim for a more sustainable world.
Floating near their corresponding tree or shrub, each bubble will display the plant’s scientific name, age, and amount of carbon dioxide it will store during its lifetime.
Walking through Brera Botanical Garden, guests will learn about the symbiotic relationship between humans’ need for oxygen and trees’ ability to produce it through storing carbon dioxide.
Designers behind Natural Capital note that “Natural Capital aims to experiment with a new design medium, turning data visualization into a tangible, spatial experience, bringing the natural and the artificial worlds a little bit closer together.”
Beaches are meant for hot summer days. But what if we can use our umbrella to give us shade and blow some cool wind our way? That is the question Italy’s leading gelato and frozen desserts brand Sammontana brought to the international design firm Carlo Ratti Associati and architect Italo Rota. The result is an ingenious method that gives this popular, ever-present beach accessory a whole new level. This design is a part of Sammontana’s initiative to reduce the environmental impact of its activities, inspired by the principles put forward in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
The beach umbrella comes with an origami-inspired design that unfolds to display a photovoltaic array that generates electric power which gets used for further refrigeration and cooling for the beach people. Measuring 2.5 meters high and a 3.2 meter diameter, this umbrella’s transformation brings to mind the mechanisms we see on the NASA spacecrafts. The entire setup can be used individually or be rigged together to generate electricity that can even run an ice cream freezer on the beachside. Its perfect for a private beach or even a luxury beach resort where these umbrellas can be deployed to keep the machines churning.
“Can we use the power of the abundant summer sunshine to make our holiday experience more sustainable?” says Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The design concept of this project starts from using the sun to produce electricity to cool the space under the umbrella – and then scale it up to provide power to any beach resort. We are delighted that Sammontana invited us to develop this project, as both our organizations share a strong commitment to environmental values and human wellbeing.” “The project builds on Sammontana’s objective to lower the environmental impact potentially applicable to Italian beaches – which are the iconic backdrops where Sammontana is served, marking the most pleasant and joyful moments of summer,” says Sibilla Bagnoli, Head of Communication and Image at Sammontana Italia. “For many years, our company has been focusing on such special environments, experimenting with new ways to welcome the public, manage services and innovate while protecting the environment.”
A prototype of this design will be exhibited from June 12th to August 8th, 2021 at BAM-Biblioteca Degli Alberi Milano Park, showcasing how our everyday objects have such a huge scope for innovation, we only need to look deeper!
Carlo Ratti has done it again with the Playscaper – a 300 ft tall tower that stacks eight tennis courts! In collaboration with Italo the ambitious concept makes tennis courts more accessible in urban areas where space is often an issue. What makes this more interesting is its flexible nature, Playscraper can be quickly assembled and disassembled which makes it easier to host competitions around the world while reducing construction costs and not requiring a large area.
Playscaper will provide 60,000 ft2 (5,500 m2) of total playing space with its vertically layered courts. The tower’s structure will be made using lightweight stainless-steel which is inspired by the outer shell of a spacecraft and developed by Broad Sustainable Building. “This project would not just create a new icon for sports lovers. It also experiments with a new type of public space, extending vertically instead of horizontally. The tower is easy to install and dismantle and can be easily moved. This flexible approach fits the circular nature of today’s sports competitions, which move from location to location throughout the year,” says architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab.
Designed not just for the players on the court, the long sides of each ‘box’ incorporate an electronic façade that can stream sports matches and other digital content. While on the short sides, transparent walls offer panoramic views of the outdoors. The project has been developed for rcs sport, the sport and media branch of the leading European multimedia publishing group rcs mediagroup. Carlo Ratti Associati worked on the design as part of a larger team of engineers and technical consultants.
The world’s health systems are feeling immense pressure to catch up with Covid-19’s reach and speed. With over 400,000 worldwide cases (and still growing), the contagion is spreading so rapidly that health professionals are worried because facilities are already overflowing. We have already seen many countries like Italy, Spain, and China treating people in corridors, makeshift tents, and on streets by simply laying a sheet because beds are not available. The global community, from designers and startups to big fashion and alcohol brands, has been helping out by using all their resources to support the health system. Italian start-up Isinnova has 3D printed valves for ventilators, New York start-up Air Co. is making carbon-negative hand sanitizers to donate, Kering (Gucci’s parent company) and beer maker BrewDog have offered money and production lines to make items needed for the pandemic. The most important need of the hour, apart from the hope of a vaccine, are hospital beds and especially ICUs. The supply is nowhere close to the demand – the USA has 2.8 beds per 1000 people, while a country like India with a population of 1.3 billion only has 0.5 beds per 1000 people. Because there is no international standard for how many beds a country must have in hospitals, there is a huge disparity and despite Italy having 3.2 beds per 1000 people, which is more than India and the USA, it is still grappling with the reality of only treating those with a higher survival rate due to the lack of resources. These heroes are doing everything they can but due to the absence of adequate infrastructure, their efforts to contain the spread can quickly become futile if the space used is unhygienic, so Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota have come up with a solution – Intensive Critical Unit (ICU) pods made from shipping containers!
These ICU pods are called CURA (Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments) which means “cure” in Latin (doesn’t that make you feel a little better?) and these will help take some load off the hospitals, especially in Italy. Ratti’s Studio, Carlo Ratti Associati, and MIT’s Senseable City Lab are creating mobile field hospitals with these CURA Intensive Care pods that serve as a biocontainment unit for two patients at a time. “The aim is that they can be quickly deployed in cities around the world, promptly responding to the shortage of ICU space in hospitals and the spread of the disease,” explained the CURA team as they build the first prototype unit at a hospital in Milan. These units can be set up as fast as tents with the benefit of having hospital-level hygiene which will help contain the infection and especially help those suffering from acute respiratory problems as they need intense care. This will also ensure that the health professionals remain safe while treating the infected who will have a better chance at recovery in the biocontainment units. “Whatever the evolution of this pandemic, it is expected that more ICUs will be needed internationally in the next few months,” says a spokesperson from the CURA team.
The pods can be assembled and disassembled very quickly, and because it is a shipping container, it can be moved from epicenter to epicenter by road, rail, and ship, around the world to address the need for more ICUs. The units are designed in repurposed 6.1-meter-long (approximately 8 feet x 8.5 feet) shipping containers with a ventilation system that generates negative pressure inside – this prevents the contaminated air from escaping thus reducing the risk of infecting health professionals who are more vulnerable because of a shortage of protective gear. This is a common technique used in hospitals and laboratories and the designers have created CURA to comply with Airborne Infection Isolation Rooms (AIIRs) standards. Each of the ICU pods will have all the medical equipment needed to support two coronavirus Covid-19 intensive-care patients at a time. The beautiful part about CURA is that it is modular – each pod could work as a stand-alone unit or multiple pods can be connected with an inflatable structure to create a bigger intensive care center. These were designed keeping in mind that they would be an expansion to existing hospitals by being set-up in their parking area but have the flexibility to be turned into a larger field hospital if needed. “CURA aims to improve the efficiency of existing solutions in the design of field hospitals, tailoring them to the current pandemic,” explained the team who are working hard to do their bit as non-health professionals in supporting those at the frontline of this outbreak.
While we can’t match the contribution of health professionals, the world needs every single person to play their part right now – designers, engineers, creative professionals, manufacturers, start-ups, brands are all called upon to offer any and every service they can to help ease the ache mankind is feeling. And if you don’t have anything to offer, you still have an equally powerful role to play in breaking the exponential transmission chain by simply staying indoors. Let’s flatten the curve, Avengers assemble…in your homes!
Designers: Carlo Ratti Associati with Italo Rota (Design and Innovation), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Design and Innovation), Humanitas Research Hospital (Medical Engineering), Policlinico di Milano (Medical Consultancy), Jacobs (Alberto Riva – Master Planning, design, construction and logistics support services), Studio FM Milano (Visual identity & graphic design), Squint/Opera (Digital media), Alex Neame of Team Rubicon UK (Logistics), Ivan Pavanello of Projema (MEP Engineering), Dr. Maurizio Lanfranco of Ospedale Cottolengo (Medical Consultancy).
Sustainability isn’t as difficult as one might think. In the past few months we’ve seen so much in the way of using ecologically conscious materials, from t-shirts made entirely from eucalyptus and algae, to leather made from beer mash, to liquid soap bottles made from actual soap! The bottom line is, designers are always finding creative ways to deal with waste and to develop newer ways to manufacture products in a way that’s sustainable and circular. Take for instance Carlo Ratti’s Circular Orange Juice Bar, an innovative machine that uses every bit of the orange to provide a delightful drinking experience. At first, the oranges are laid out right on the top, in an innovative spiral rail. The oranges instantly become the juice bar’s branding, as their vibrant tangerine color is visible from a distance. Approach the bar, and the oranges, laid out in a nice umbrella shape, provide shade as you sip your juice. As for the juice, each orange is transported, cut, and squeezed by a machine fresh on the spot. The peel is discarded into the bottom pit which dries the waste out, pulverizes it to a fine powder, and binds it with PLA to turn it into a 3D printable filament. This filament is fed right into a 3D printer that prints your juice-cup right in front of you, with your freshly squeezed juice in it! You can discard each cup, as it’s completely biodegradable, giving you a product and experience that is derived from nature, and can return completely to nature with absolutely no impact!
Carlo Ratti’s Scribit is a small printer with big ambitions and the ability to take on the biggest canvases possible. Scribit is a robot that allows users to draw on walls, whiteboards, pieces of glass, or plastered drywall. Suspending itself from the uppermost corners, the Scribit can pretty accurately track coordinates (like a delta 3D printer, but without the Z axis) and create artworks on massive walls using the CMYK markers within its design. Using whiteboard markers to create complex artworks, the artworks can also be erased and replaced with new ones from time to time, allowing massive walls to turn into dynamic canvases for art, information, or advertisement.
“We are totally deluged with information, and spend too much of our non-sleeping time in front of one form or another of digital screen – TV, desktop computer, laptop, tablet or phone. Do we really want to add more screens to our lives?” says Ratti, founding partner of CRA and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): “Scribit offers up an alternative: a robotic system that draws on any kind of vertical surface, following a primordial act performed by humanity since our first cave graffiti.”
Readers in Milan, get ready to see the Scribit first hand at the Milan Design Week!
The Lift-Bit sofa is nothing short of magical. Designed by Carlo Ratti Associati and Opendot, and premiered at the Milan Design Week this year, it looks like an unsuspecting sofa, but has a vastly better user experience than any sofa you’ll see. Just hover your hand above the cushion and the sofa height adjusts, moving up and down, based on where you move your hand. The sofa comes as a single yet modular unit. Pair multiple pieces together and you have yourself a completely customizable 3D playground that also serves as comfortable seating!
‘Lift-Bit draws on the potential of internet of things (IoT) technologies to transform our interior landscape, giving form to an endlessly reconfigurable environment,’ says Carlo Ratti. Underneath the upholstery, sits an array of sensors, distributed ingeniously, to make the sofa units hover upwards or downwards just by waving your hand over the fabric.
Individual units of the Lift-Bit can be used as seats with height-adjustment, but things get interesting when multiple units are paired together in a honeycomb fashion… allowing users to turn the Lift-Bit into a bed, sofa, or lounging chair… or just allow children to immerse themselves in experimenting with this highly interactive furniture!
