In the Giardino delle quattro stagioni you can stroll through time admiring hundreds of different plants in the heart of Milan, at CityLife. The new hi-tech project by architect Carlo Ratti.
The international design and innovation studio Carlo Ratti associati, together with CityLife, the residential complex in Milan, has unveiled the Giardino delle quattro stagioni, a 2,500-square-metre greenhouse where all four seasons will coexist simultaneously throughout the year. The project exploits a new high-precision climate control system through which incoming solar energy is captured by photovoltaic panels and redistributed across the different seasonal sectors, with zero energy consumption. The aim is to restore a closer relationship between urban dwellers and natural cycles.
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The project stems from an idea by Barbara Römer, a strategic consultant specialising in the cultural development of metropolitan contexts. The transparent structure that will shelter the garden will be a membrane of Ethylene TetraFluoroEthylene (ETFE), an extremely strong and reactive recyclable material weighing 99 times less than glass, with zero energy consumption. Thanks to sensors, the structure will open and close in order to regulate the internal environmental conditions and thereby manage the two fundamental components for plant growth: light and heat. By constantly monitoring these two factors, the system will allow plants to undergo metamorphosis in line with seasonal cycles. Furthermore, additional heat transfers between the pavilions, when needed, will allow each area to reach the desired "intermediate" climatic conditions.
In a single space, following a path that leads them from spring to winter, visitors will be able to stroll through the seasons, observing the transformation of nature and interacting with the plants in a variety of ways. The aim of the project is to allow urban dwellers to connect more deeply with the cycles of nature, particularly those of plants, but also "to stitch past and future together in an idea inspired by the ancient fontana Le quattro stagioni located nearby, in piazza Giulio Cesare," explains Andrea Cassi, project manager at Carlo Ratti associati. "Our goal was to create a symbolic parallel with the past, projecting the age-old theme of the four seasons into the future through the adoption of cutting-edge sustainable technologies."
By employing a net-zero energy climate control system, the project will also draw attention to climate change, a theme previously explored by the same studio through the projects Cloud cast and Sun&Shade. "Given that climate change could become increasingly sudden and extreme, the importance of devising control strategies will grow exponentially," explains architect Carlo Ratti, founder of the studio. "It was precisely this consideration that spurred the project, with which we want to inaugurate a new technique for a sustainable and empathic internet of plants." The new Milan garden does not in fact aim solely to create a dialogue between spaces: plants are the true point of connection with people and with the structure that hosts them, thanks to special sensors and new technologies that will measure the quantity of water, temperature, humidity and nutrients required by each species, which in turn will send information about its own state of health.
The concept, better known as the "internet of plants", is simple yet at the same time immense in its scope: the idea is that the plant world becomes connected with us through a network and is able to provide us with information about the environment. Each plant will need to be equipped with a biochip — a microchip containing organic materials — that will "translate" the chemical signals that plants normally emit and exchange with one another into a series of understandable words or phrases. Every tree or shrub will thus be able to signal to us atmospheric changes, pollution data and all the information that is necessary for their survival, and that would be fundamental for us in improving our quality of life and our relationship with the planet.
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The project not only addresses a number of relevant issues such as climate change, energy consumption and the use of cutting-edge new technologies, but above all represents a further initiative to make CityLife a place to be experienced not merely as passive residents but as engaged citizens, in contact with nature at the heart of a heavily urbanised environment.