'Living Nature': Salone del Mobile Milano CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati unveil the garden that uses energy flow control to allow spring, summer, autumn and winter to coexist at the same time

Salone del Mobile Milano and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati unveil 'Living Nature', a garden pavilion in Milan’s central square that uses energy flow control to allow spring, summer, autumn and winter to coexist at the same time.

International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has designed the opening act of Salone del Mobile Milano 2018 (Milan Design Week). 'Living Nature. La Natura dell’Abitare' is a garden pavilion where all four seasons coexist with each other at the same time, thanks to an innovative energy management system for climate control. The project, which stems from a concept by CRA and Studio Römer, will be open to the public in Milan’s main square (Piazza del Duomo) from the 17th to the 25th of April 2018, during the 57th edition of Salone del Mobile furniture fair.

The plants in the pavilion are housed under a 5-meter-high responsive crystal membrane that dynamically filters the sun based on input from light-reactive sensors. Above the pavilion, photovoltaic panels generate clean power, providing the required energy to cool the winter area, or to heat the summer space. 'Living Nature' bonds nature’s cycles and domestic spaces, through a series of rooms and familiar areas, each of them furnished according to a different theme. The selection of plants was curated by French botanist Patrick Blanc.

"We believe that today’s challenge is the opposite, how can we bring nature back to the city and in the house”, says Carlo Ratti, founding partner at CRA and director of MIT Senseable City Lab. “In recent years, Milan has been at the forefront of such research with landmark projects such as Stefano Boeri’s Bosco Verticale. 'Living Nature' continues this line of thought, raising new questions related to sustainability in the domestic and collective spheres”.