Is it possible to bridge nature and cities? Can new technologies help to reconcile these two fundamental dimensions? “The Green & The Gray”, a 2000 sqf interactive exhibition curated by Carlo Ratti Associati at EDIT (Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology) answers to these questions (Toronto, September 28th/October 8th) celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Today, new technologies allow us to bridge the eternal rift between city and nature and contribute to a “Prosperity for All” (main theme of EDIT).
“The Green & The Gray” features artifacts and initiatives that stand out for their ability to reconcile these two fundamental dimensions of the human condition, envisioning a thriving future for local communities worldwide.
Inside the immersive environment, visitors can explore the exhibition while moving over a floor that gives the impression of walking over water.
The exhibition showcases features 19 projects, selected of 100 international projects presented, among these: Grant Associates’ Supertree Grove, Transsolar’s Reversío, Terreform ONE’s Cricket Shelter, Philippe Rahm’s Spectral light for Artemide, Arctic Food Network by Lateral Office and The Lowline Lab.
Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and a founding partner of Carlo Ratti Associati, quoted: “I have always been fascinated by the words of French anarchist geographer Elysée Reclus, at the end of the 19th century he wrote: ‘Man should have the doubled advantage of access to the pleasures of the city […], the opportunities offered for the study and practice of art, and at the same time should be able to enjoy the freedom that lies in nature, and which is explained in the field of its vast horizon’. The Green & The Gray, with its Stendhalian title, aims to explore how, thanks to new technologies, we can finally contribute to Reclus’ vision of marrying city and nature”.
“Since Marc-Antoine Laugier’s celebration of the ‘primitive hut’, architecture has always acted as a separation between mankind and nature. Could new technologies allow us to think about it in a different way?”, says Emma Greer, Project Manager at Carlo Ratti Associati: “The integration between nature and cities through the use of new technologies has been at the core of many of Carlo Ratti Associati’s recent projects, from the Trussardi Dehors in Milan, for which we developed the first vertical garden in Italy, to our soon-to-be-opened pavilion for FICO Eataly World, which leverages hydroponics cultivations and the Internet of Things to turn visitors into potential farmers”.
“We are thrilled to be working with Carlo Ratti and his team on this ambitious exhibition, which touches upon some of the world’s most pressing issues and looks at design as integral to how we can make the world a better place for all people”, says Shauna Levy, President and CEO, Design Exchange (Producers of EDIT).