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Architects: Carlo Ratti Associati
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Marco Beck Peccoz
Text description provided by the architects. How many things can be done with the world's most abundant foodstuff: rice? While three-Michelin-star chef Niko Romito bakes "cookies," CRA and Italo Rota unveil an experimental installation that starts from the byproduct of rice farming, to create a spatial architecture interacting with the trees at Milan's Orto Botanico.
International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, together with the late Italo Rota (1953-2024), unveils a project for Milan Design Week 2024 transforming the Brera Botanical Garden into an immersive pathway exploring the multiple uses of rice - from food to experimental construction material.
The installation consists of a series of geometrical units created from rice husks - the byproduct of rice processing, which is usually discarded. Evoking the modular, cellular structure of natural materials, starting from a basic triangular form, the units evoke both spatial architectures and Yona Friedman's metabolic structures, which can grow within nature and transform to accommodate new functions. The installation is largely composed of silica-based geopolymer RH-GEO, developed by construction material startup Ricehouse: an inert material that hints at a zero-waste production process.
The installation is part of a wider experience that starts with the values of skills and training, then exploring materials research while linking it to food. The Botanical Garden itself is integral to the meaning of the installation: edible plants including sage, fennel, and other Mediterranean flavors are used by Chef Niko Romito to create a “cookie”, engaging the final sense: taste.
