Feeling the Energy

 “Feeling the Energy” makes use of 500 meters of digitally bent copper pipe to create a sensorial path where people can explore different forms of sustainable energy production and consumption. The project is developed for Plenitude as part of the Design Week’s INTERNI Re.Generation exhibition. The copper is provided by KME, one of the world's largest producers of this material. “Feeling the Energy” will be open to the public until 13th June 2022.

The installation invites people to wander through Milan’s historical Botanical Garden, in a sequence of six main stages: Energy Carousel, Garden Orchestra, The Leading Logo, Powering Vibrations, Blinds in the Sun, Solar Garden. These make it possible to directly experience how energy can be produced from the sun, wind, and people’s movements. Each step features a different object, all made of copper. The installation harvests and stores energy during the day, using it to illuminate the Botanical Garden in the evening. It also powers water vaporizers that will cool the garden pathways while at the same time nourishing the vegetation.

Visitors access the Botanical Garden and immediately discover a majestic carousel where they can experience the energy in motion. After that, people can walk under a series of portals that plays sequences from the renowned Four Seasons symphony by Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi, performed by the Ensemble Strumentale la Barocca of the Symphony Orchestra of Milan. The exhibition path also includes a giant vibraphone which people are invited to play. Moreover, a tunnel with colored diaphragms laden with organic photovoltaic panels can be opened or closed by those wandering through it, while a canopy features sensors that can detect people’s presence and activate a cool mist.

The Plenitude project illustrates what a self-sufficient energy infrastructure looks like, where discrete points are connected in a microgrid. The installation reproduces, on a small scale, what happens with urban, national and even transcontinental energy networks: complex distribution channels are able to connect and supply each node over a long journey. Moreover, the copper tube features antimicrobial properties, which are particularly beneficial to allowing safe contacts between visitors joining the experience. The same material will be reused at the end of the event, following the principles of circular design.

CRA has explored the Natural and the Artificial as well as energy production at different scales, in a variety of projects. These include Cloud Cast, a system that uses motion tracking and ceiling-mounted misting elements to provide localized cooling, and The Greenary, a private house built around a 10-meter-tall ficus tree in northern Italy. At previous Design Week exhibitions, CRA developed temporary installations that use technology to devise alternative sustainable futures. For instance Living Nature, in Milan’s main square Piazza del Duomo, recreated a garden pavilion where all four seasons coexist with each other at the same time, thanks to an innovative energy management system for climate control.

Feeling the Energy

A project by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota

Client: Plenitude

Orto Botanico, Brera, Milan, Italy

CRA Team: Carlo Ratti (founder), Antonio Atripaldi (Partner in Charge), Mario Daudo (Architect),

CRA Make Team: Mykola Murashko, Carlo Turati, Yasser Mohamed Harris, Lorenzo Capra

Italo Rota Team: Italo Rota, Francesca Grassi

Copper manufacturing: KME Italy S.p.A.

With the musical contribution of the Ensemble Strumentale laBarocca of the Symphony Orchestra of Milan, conducted by M. Ruben Jais.

Photo Credit: Marco Beck Peccoz