Public conversation

Inside the Post Office Pod at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, @field.states and @verso___studio present Production Potential — a prototype for transforming vacant offices into compact, clean manufacturing hubs.

Amid rising vacancy and disrupted supply chains, the project imagines ...a future where making returns to the city center.

📍Giardini della Biennale
Part of Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. curated by Carlo Ratti

📷 Ewan Photography / Field States

#architecture #cities #urbanism #design #futureofwork #reuse #installation #biennalearchitettura2025 #venicebiennale #publicspace #fieldstates #versostudio

What forms might work take when it returns to the outdoors?

At @labiennale’s 19th International Architecture Exhibition, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati presents Post Office Pod: a modular, open-air workspace system designed in collaboration with participants Richard Florida, Anna Maria ...Scaravella, Marialena Nikolopoulou, Rohan Silva, and Recchi Engineering.

Set within the Giardini, the pods are solar-powered, shaded, and wrapped in greenery — offering quiet spaces for meetings, calls, or moments of pause.

After Venice, they will travel across Italy through @posteitaliane’s Polis Project, transforming 7,000 post offices into platforms for local connection and care.

📍Giardini della Biennale
📷 Antonio Guiotto

#PostOfficePod #CRA #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #PosteItaliane #PolisProject #ArchitectureAndLandscape #FutureOfWork #ModularDesign #WorkOutdoors

Senseable City Amsterdam and @ams_institute are representing at Amsterdam Innovation Day!

Stop by Marineterrein today between 2:00-5:00, say hello 👋 and celebrate 750 years of Amsterdam 🇳🇱

#futurefest #amsterdam #innovation

May’s Esquire Italia landed on newsstands with Carlo Ratti on the cover. @sonolacristina caught up with him right before the opening week of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, a project that has positioned itself to redefine how we inhabit tomorrow’s world.

For ...@labiennale, Ratti launched the curatorial process with a public call for ideas from around the world—thousands of students and professionals responded. In the end, he selected over 750 participants, convinced that “the debate must expand to include voices furthest from pure architecture.”

That’s why this edition, titled “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”, features not just architects but cosmologists, humanoid builders, chefs, and scientists. “We’re seeing this in universities, too: alongside technical disciplines, collaborations with the social sciences are gaining ground.” Many of today’s changes, Ratti believes, “have a behavioral component that must be understood and anticipated.”

The built environment accounts for 40% of global carbon emissions and 40% of raw material consumption. “So while in the 1990s the focus was on mitigation,” Ratti says, “the 2025 Biennale is about adaptation.”

Can architects be agents of change? “I call them mutagenic agents—a strong term, perhaps,” Ratti remarks. “But emphasizing transformative architecture is a way to spark debate: many lament that Biennales feature more contemporary art and politics than buildings. My aim is to cross those boundaries, using every tool we have to envision a different future.”

The full interview by Cristina D’Antonio continues in the cover story of Esquire Italia No. 41

Credits
Editor in Chief: Giovanni Audiffredi @audiffredi
Fashion Director & Style: Nik Piras @nikpiras
Text: Cristina D’Antonio @sonolacristina
Photo: Federico Ciamei @federicociamei
Grooming: Matthew Tuozzoli @tuozzoli
Style Assistants: Diego Serna @diegosernah, Bilal Mourchid @bilalmourchid
Production: Sabrina Bearzotti @sabrinabearzotti
Location: Palacio de los Duques Gran Meliá, Madrid @palacioduquesgm
Fashion: Zegna @zegna
Art Direction: Tomo Tomo @tomotomo.studio

#esquireitalia

Meet AquaPraça: a floating cultural plaza for a planet's water levels 🌊

CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon unveil a buoyant public space that adapts to rising sea levels — anchoring COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Rooted in principles of equilibrium and designed as a civic ...platform, AquaPraça invites visitors to meet the sea at eye level, transforming architecture into a living forum for climate dialogue.

Unveiled at #BiennaleArchitettura2025, the platform will travel across the Atlantic to become a lasting cultural landmark in the Amazon.

📍 Venice → Belém
📆 September 2025 → November 2025

A collaboration with Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, CIHEAM Bari, Connect4Climate, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

#CRA @labiennale @ciheam_bari @connect4climate @bloombergdotorg @howeleryoonarchitecture @italymfa #HowelerYoon #AquaPraça #COP30 #ClimateAction #FloatingArchitecture #PublicSpace #DesignForChange #Belém #VeniceBiennale #ArchitectureAndClimate #CollectiveDesign

How can a building evolve alongside the people who inhabit it?

With the City of Naples, we’re reimagining Le Vele — the iconic modernist complex by Franz Di Salvo — through a collective process of memory, design, and AI.

Stories become spaces. Voices become visions.

... At the Biennale Architettura 2025, a suspended model of Vela Celeste presents AI-generated futures born from community input — a dialogue between memory and transformation.
Not demolition. Not nostalgia. But design in progress.

@crassociati @manfredi_official @labiennale #GENS #IntelliGens #LeVele #VelaCeleste #Napoli #BiennaleArchitettura #ParticipatoryDesign #FranzDiSalvo #UrbanRegeneration
@agnese_bedini @dsl__studio

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti, opened to the public over the weekend.

We’re excited to share a little behind the scenes of the work that went into bringing Senseable’s Data Clouds ☁️ and Re-Leaf 🌳 exhibitions to... life.

Special thanks to our collaborators at @mit @harvardgsd @journeydotworld and beyond!
@labiennale

#biennalearchitettura2025 #MIT #harvardgsd #intelligens #labiennaledivenezia #urban #innovation

#CarloRatti #intelligens #Gens #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #labiennaledivenezia #biennalearchitettura @labiennale @hansulrichobrist @paolantonelli #mphomatsipa

Let’s talk architecture futures - together!

As part of the GENS Public Programme, Workshops kick off on Thursday 8 May, during the pre-opening of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti.

Taking place at the Speakers’ ...Corner in the Corderie dell’Arsenale — designed by Christopher Hawthorne, Johnston Marklee, and Florencia Rodriguez — these Workshops invite the public to engage directly with the themes of Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.

Throughout the six months of the Exhibition, the Workshops will activate conversations, ideas, and actions — from architectural critique to collective intelligence in response to the climate crisis.
📍 The GENS Programme is live and evolving: head to labiennale.org for the full calendar and updates.

#BiennaleArchitettura2025 #CarloRatti #CRA #Intelligens #SpeakersCorner #GENSPublicProgramme #LaBiennale #ArchitectureIsSurvival #Intelligens #Gens @labiennale @crassociati 📸: @martagobbo_

Kicking off the preview days of Biennale Architettura 2025!

“In times of adaptation, architecture needs to draw on multiple forms of intelligence: natural, artificial, and collective. In times of adaptation, architecture needs to reach out across generations and across disciplines, from ...the hard sciences to the arts. In times of adaptation, architecture must rethink authorship and become more inclusive. Architecture must become as flexible and dynamic as the world we are now designing for.” #CarloRatti

Find out more about the 19th International Architecture Exhibition (#Venice, 10 May > 23 November 2025) and buy your tickets → www.labiennale.org

#LaBiennaleDiVenezia #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #IntelliGens @crassociati @labiennale 📸: @martagobbo_

🍃Re-Leaf🍃 transforms tree distribution data in Amsterdam, Dubai, Los Angeles, and Rome, into dynamic “green skyscrapers”: physical models that allow visitors to intuitively compare vegetation density across very different climates and urban forms.

We are excited to see this ...exhibition come to life in just about a week!

#vegetation #urbangreenery #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #venicebiennale

DUSP Students of class 11.320 taught by Fábio Duarte and Simone Mora presented their solutions to tackle urban heat in the city of #Rome to personnel of the U.S. Embassy to Italy @ambasciatausa and officers of Carabinieri Command of the Forest, Environmental and Agri-food units ...@carabinieri.forestali. SCL would like to thank Cultural Attaché Karen Schinnerer and Cultural Program Coordinator Tiziana Candiloro for their hospitality and the U.S. Mission to Italy’s 2024 Annual Program Statement (APS) for financial support.

Congratulations to these students whose last day of class was today! 🎉

#senseableabroad #urbanheat #MIT #dusp

At Dubai’s AI week, we shared how our global research tackles local challenges, with a special focus on our work at Senseable City Dubai.

From #sustainability to #urbaninnovation, our collaboration with @dubaifuture is helping shape new ways of sensing and understanding the city in ...extreme climate conditions.

We are so grateful to our research teams in both Dubai and Cambridge for their brilliant work—we are excited to keep working on these projects!

#dubaifuture #ai

Blending physical and digital experiences, ☁Data Clouds☁ challenges audiences to rethink these communities—not as marginalized spaces, but as vital, evolving environments born from human resilience and ingenuity.

#urbanresilience #community #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #venicebiennale

#BiennaleArchitettura2025
In the era of adaptation, collaboration is the key. #IntelliGens forges connections with global entities in the context of the Conferences that form part of #GENS, the Public Programme conceived by Carlo Ratti to expand the design content of the 19th International ...Architecture Exhibition. Fostering cross-disciplinary dialogue, these large-scale public programms assemble scientists, artists, activists, students, politicians and practitioners in #Venice to showcase the breadth of human approaches to adaptation.

Don’t miss the first five events in the line-up, taking place between Ca’ Giustinian and the Arsenale, which will address “Baukultur” (May 10), the need to protect cities from the effects of the climate crisis (May 13), shifting urban paradigms (May 24), the way we build, plan and design cities to respond to modern challenges (May 28) and Climate Tech Startups (7 June).

More information and updates → www.labiennale.org

#LaBiennaleDiVenezia #BiennaleArchitettura @labiennale @crassociati

🌼 Spring is in full swing, and Amsterdam is buzzing with life! Today, we're testing our brand-new biodiversity sensor—a prototype designed to capture data on urban ecology, with a special focus on detecting insect species as key indicators of urban health 🐝🐛🦋

...#urbanecology #buggingamsterdam #urbansensing #spring #biodiversity

Based off research in collaboration with MIT CSAIL, experience Re-Leaf 🌿🌳 at #BiennaleArchitettura2025 where AI meets #urbanforests. The exhibition transforms tree distribution data in Amsterdam, Dubai, Los Angeles, and Rome, into dynamic "green skyscrapers” for guests to discover how ...trees cool #cities, shape #microclimates, and become #green infrastructure for a more resilient future.

Where tech meets resilience, and every point tells a story. ✨ #DataClouds is an immersive exhibit that reveals the complex hidden geometry of Rio’s Vidigal #favela. As part of our Lab’s mission in Rio—a first of its kind in South America—this project is a step toward using advanced tech ...to better understand and support informal communities. SCL and our partner @journeydotworld are proud to bring this unseen city to life at #BiennaleArchitettura2025.

#LiDAR #urbanAI

Our present moment is defined by digital estrangement, and the French Pavilion reclaims physical space as a place for human connections.

Together with Coldefy, we designed the French Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka as a place for encounters.
Inspired by the legend of Akai Ito—the ...invisible thread that connects kindred souls—a love letter to human connection and the planet that hosts us all.
A spiral stairway welcomes movement.
A quiet garden invites stillness.
Made with recyclable steel and modular textiles, the Pavilion reflects agile, open, and adaptable architecture.

#CRA @coldefy.fr @franceexpo2025osaka @expo2025japan #FrenchPavilion #Expo2025 #AkaiIto #ArchitectureForConnection #DesignForDialogue #SpiralStaircase #Osaka2025

📸 @julienlanoo

Innovation and sustainability at the heart of the Olympic torch for #MilanoCortina2026.

Created by Eni, Premium Partner of Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, in collaboration with Versalis, Official Supporter of the Games, the torch was designed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and engineered and... produced by Cavagna Group.

✨ Minimal, visible, made to honour the flame — not overshadow it.
🔁 Refillable up to 10 times
🔥 Powered by bio-LPG

🔗 Read more via @milanocortina2026, @olympics, @eni @enilive_official, #versalis

#IOC #OlympicTorch #MilanoCortina2026 #CarloRattiAssociati #Olympics #Paralympics

🌿 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆: 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 🌿

Do you remember The Greenary? This extraordinary home in Parma, designed by CRA and ...Italo Rota, embodies our vision of blending the artificial and natural worlds.

At its heart stands a majestic 10-meter-tall tree, shaping a living space where architecture and nature intertwine in perfect harmony. The Greenary redefines the balance between design, technology, and sustainability.

Inspired by the Raumplan principle, this house unfolds as a symphony of interconnected spaces—where every step brings you closer to nature’s rhythm.

#CarloRatti #Mutti #CRAssociati #Architecture #Design #Sustainability

#Biophilia refers to the benefits that contact with #nature brings to humans.

But, do we all value nature the same way across the globe? 🌎

Feeling Nature explores this question. We trained a visual AI model on street view imagery and survey responses from eight cities across ...different biomes—revealing how people perceive and prioritize nature in their environments. 

#urbandata #feelingnature #urbanstudies #visualAI

🗣️ Calling all Dutch Students‼️

We are redefining summer school! 😎 MIT Senseable City Amsterdam Lab invites you to attend our 3-day event exploring new ways to perceive and plan for urban ecology.

Who: Dutch Students (BSc, Mac, PhD)
When: August 25–27, 2025
... Location: AMS Institute, Amsterdam
Registration: This is a ✨FREE💫 event. Register by June 10, 2025—first-come, first-served.

Where a landmark building defines the future of work. ✨

CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati has reimagined a historic building in Turin, turning it into Sella Group’s Open Innovation Center—a workspace inspired by the vibrant energy of an Italian piazza. Highlights include:
🔹 A dynamic ...layout designed to foster spontaneous collaboration
🔹 Flexible workstations & shared creative spaces
🔹 Smart climate control for a healthier work environment

A new era of work calls for new office models—this is our vision. 🌱💡

📍Turin, Italy
👀 Swipe to see how we’re reshaping workspaces for innovation!

@italorota #INGEMPBP @projema_engineering #ARCHING @dsl__studio
#CRA #FutureOfWork #WorkplaceDesign #InnovationHub

🌿 A canteen like no other! 🌿

Welcome to Quisimangia, the new dining hall designed by CRA for Mutti, nestled in Italy’s Food Valley. This space blends nature and architecture, with a green roof made from compacted earth and a floor crafted from recycled tomato skins. By day, it ...serves Mutti employees, and by night, it transforms into a Michelin-starred restaurant by @vicookcerea.

Would you dine under the grass?
#DesignInnovation #SustainableArchitecture #FoodValley @muttipomodoroit @primatsrl @terracruda