Carlo Ratti Associati Cioccolato Venchi pavilion at FICO in Bologna

An “edible pavilion”, an invitation to turn into new Hansels and Gretels, from Carlo Ratti, founder of Carlo Ratti Associati, who designed the Venchi pavilion in FICO Eataly World – Fabbrica Italiana Contadina, a food and agriculture park that will open to the public on November 15, 2017.

The edible part of the pavilion is the outer wall, 8 metres long and 3.5 metres high, made out of more than 30 thousand filled chocolates. A mosaic of Venchi chocolates of different kinds, arranged to make the wall look like the world’s biggest chocolate bar! Inside the pavilion, visitors can explore the effects of chocolate on the human body in chocolate tastings. Each tasting is monitored using facial recognition technologies developed in partnership with DotDotDot of Milan. Facial micro-movements collected during the tasting are recorded and played back in the "Chocolate Portraits" room, a virtual gallery exhibiting the faces of men, women and children as they react to chocolate. The last part of the pavilion is a laboratory where visitors can make their own chocolate bars customised on the basis of their individual preferences, recorded in the tasting area.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Carlo Ratti Associati www.carloratti.com
CRA Team: Carlo Ratti, Giovanni de Niederhausern, Andrea Cassi (Project lead), Francesco Strocchio, Federico Riches, Aunie Frisch, Pietro Leoni, Andrea Pedrina, Gary di Silvio, Gianluca Zimbardi, Alberto Bottero, Damiano Gui.
Interaction design: Dotdotdot with Toby Knyvett
Hardware and constructions: FMG (Fabrizio Milani)
Photos: Daniele Iodice

www.eatalyworld.it
www.venchi.com

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