Is a city a digital organism?

Carlo Ratti is the mastermind behind the “Senseable City Lab” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an assembly of designers, urban planners, engineers, physicists, biologists and sociologists with the aim of creating alternative worlds for living. One of the main themes is the interconnectivity of nature and urban life and an investigation into how technology can bridge this gap. Ratti explored this in his “Living Nature” project, a garden pavilion that allows all four seasons to coexist under the same roof. 

“Living Nature” pavilion, Milan, Salone del Mobile, 2018.

WINTER IN SUMMER

Carlo Ratti’s newly invented recreational space at the heart of the city offers everything at once: playing snowballs in ­sub-zero temperatures, and basking in the sun in summer heat.