Livegreenblog at Carlo Ratti Associati QSELLA OFFICE

The Carlo Ratti Associati studio - showcasing “Futurecraft” at SpazioFMG in Milan - is one of the most innovative design firms in Italy and elsewhere. Livegreenblog visited the QSELLA OFFICE in Turin to get a sneak peek behind the scenes of the studio that designed the Future Food District at Expo2015, just to mention one of their most recent works.



Corso Quintino Sella, a 1930s building with sinuous forms, designed by rationalist architect, Angelo Frisa. This is the site of the Carlo Ratti Associati tudio, with interiors that perfectly combine the existing spaces and professional needs, all in a very warm, welcoming and relaxed atmosphere.





The studio occupies the ground floor and attic, refurbishing the space with total respect for the building and without completely gutting the existing spaces. The only addition is a sculptural-style staircase leading up to the attic: an open space (in keeping with the Open Source Architecture approach of Carlo Ratti) with views over the city roofs and hills, just the thing to get the creative juices flowing. QSELLA is an architecture studio that makes its visitors and its collaborators feel right at home. Here, innovation has no need for easy, superficial fanfare, it is found in the substance of the design solutions that are adopted in these spaces and in the care that goes into the historic building.





During our visit we also got a closer look at some of the projects of Carlo Ratti, founder of the SENSEable City Lab at the MIT and according to the Wired magazine, one of the 50 people who will change the world. Soon we'll be detailing some of his projects for our readers.





A positive experience, an intense networking of ideas - from robotics to research for the Tsunami Safe Houses in Samoa, from EXPO2015 to communicating architecture, from city mapping to TAB2015, where with Floornature as media partner and SPIN Unit as organisers of the TAB-Lab exhibition, we'll meet Carlo Ratti at the Symposium.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: carlorattiassociati | walter nicolino & carlo ratti with Chiara Morandini
CRA Team: Carlo Ratti, Walter Nicolino, Chiara Morandini
Year: Turin, Italy
Anno: 2008
Photography: B. Giardino, courtesy of CRA and Christiane Bürklein
Link: exhibition Futurecraft, Future Food District, TAB2015, TAB-Lab