Carlo Ratti’s floating spheres at Milan Design Week
‘Natural Capital’ is a walking data visualization located in Milan’s Brera Botanical Garden.
Carlo Ratti’s floating spheres at Milan Design Week. This isn’t the first time the international design office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has worked with energy company Eni to explore new sustainability paradigms during Milan Design Week. Last year, they collaborated on ‘The Circular Garden‘. A Gaudi-inspired garden featuring arches made from mushroom mycelium, and now this year they are focusing on trees.
Returning to the city’s 500-square-meter Brera Botanical Garden, the duo is exhibiting ‘Natural Capital‘. An installation of floating spheres to show the role plants play in producing oxygen and capturing CO2. The installation aims to be one of the largest data visualizations ever produced to showcase the importance of trees in a sustainable world.
At the entrance to the garden is a giant sphere. Which represents the amount of CO2 produced on average by the human body every year. Meanwhile, a series of floating bubbles project the amount of carbon dioxide their corresponding trees can store during their lifecycle.
The contrast between the sphere and the floating bubbles suspended among the branches 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, and the latter stores it.
“We are all aware of the positive role that plants and forests play in absorbing CO2 but how can we better elucidate this connection?” asks Carlo Ratti, founding partner at CRA and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The installation continues CRA and Eni’s collaboration in exploring new ways to achieve a circular economy and forms part of INTERNI’s ‘creative connections’ exhibition. Together, they are presenting the Natural Capital installation during Milan Design Week 2021, which runs from September 4 to 12.
Finally, more on Archup:
Call for Submissions from the Istanbul Design Biennial: “Designing Resilience”
Health & Environmental Resilience and Livability in Cities (HERL) – The challenge of climate change
