International design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati has curated and designed “The Green & The Gray”, an interactive exhibition exploring the evolving relationship between nature and cities, to open in Toronto on September 28th, 2017. The show is part of EDIT, the ten-day Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology produced by Design Exchange (DX), whose overarching theme and main exhibition is “Prosperity for All”.
The event will be part of the celebrations of Canada’s 150th anniversary, while simultaneously marking the 50th anniversary of Montreal’s Expo 67 World’s Fair. Today, new technologies allow us to bridge the eternal rift between city and nature – or urban and rural – in unprecedented ways. “The Green & The Gray” showcases progressive projects in fields such as urban development, housing and product design, from hydroponics to sensors for climate engineering, to vertical gardens and sensitive lighting systems.
The exhibition features artifacts and initiatives that stand out for their ability to reconcile these two fundamental dimensions of the human condition, envisioning a thriving future for local communities worldwide. Featured projects include Grant Associates’ Supertree Grove, Terreform ONE’s Cricket Shelter, and Transsolar’s Reversío (more info below). The Green & The Gray, with its Stendhalian title, aims to explore how, thanks to new technologies, we can finally contribute to Reclus’ vision of marrying city and nature”.
“The Green & The Gray” will be housed within East Harbour – a five-floor former Unilever Soap factory in Toronto’s Port Lands that will host all of EDIT’s events. Carlo Ratti Associati has designed a 2000 square-foot immersive environment, in which living elements are seamlessly juxtaposed with built ones. Visitors can explore “The Green & The Gray” while moving over a water floor – a special surface in which a thin transparent layer gives the impression of walking over water.
Out of 100 international projects selected for inclusion in the exhibition catalogue, “The Green & The Gray” features 19 projects, including on-site installations and videos, developed by companies and institutions such as Modular Farm, Philippe Rahm for Artemide, SCAPE Landscape Architecture, and Rebuild by Design. The exhibits put forward ideas such as resilient infrastructure for post-disaster recovery, plant-driven air purifiers, and underground parks, and aim at either revealing the existing presence of nature in the city, improving our relationship with nature, or augmenting nature through technology. Source and images, Courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati.