By Rutvi Ashar
Photography: Daniele Iodice;
courtesy Carlo Ratti Associati
Read Time: 2 mins
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| Chocolate pavilion (inset) Carlo Ratti |
What could be more Italian than the 140-year-old gourmet
chocolate, Venchi fashioned into an edible pavilion at a theme park dedicated
to Italian food culture?!
Carlo Ratti Associati, the design brain behind
painting building facades using drones; the human-powered floating gym along
the Seine in Paris; even the completely robotic bartending system aboard a
cruise liner among several other notable projects, now brings us the edible pavilion
– the chocolate building!
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Made of Venchi’s pralines for the FICO Eataly
World, a theme park dedicated to Italian food culture to be inaugurated early
next month, the pavilion seems the perfect adjunct to referencing the venue to the
dissemination of knowledge on Italian food and wines.
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Interactive in nature, the
edible pavilion shapes some unique experiences
in which digital tools and physical space together produce magic - in this case
reconnecting users with the emotional language of fairy tales, Hansel and
Gretel, in particular. 30,000 pralines build
an artificial intelligence-run structure that is highlighted by 8-metre-long (26-foot), 3.5-metre-high (11.5-foot) surface made entirely
of chocolate candy. Thereby making the pavilion sustainable as it is almost
entirely edible!
Taking the exhibition space, a
step further, the designers have worked with Venchi to create a few
chocolate-related experiences, including a one-of-a-kind database to measure
one’s reactions and feelings, when one tastes Venchi pralines. After entering
through the chocolate wall, visitors engage in a digitally-augmented tasting experience,
as each one is invited to sit inside a booth and try different Venchi pralines.
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After
an individual tasting experience, visitors walk into the ‘chocolate portraits’ room,
where recordings of prior visitors’ emotions are analysed and shown in bright
colours. In this ethereal and exhilarating space, dozens of portraits of men,
women, and children of all ages responding to the pleasures of chocolate seem
to float in the air. Moving onto a laboratory, visitors then observe and partake
into the making of Venchi’s products. Here, they get a hands-on demo of the manufacturing
process, and can also create a fully customized chocolate tablet, tailored to
their personal taste based on the data about individual preferences gathered in
the previous area.
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Using
high tech algorithms, Venchi has taken their understanding of people and their
favourite products miles ahead! The involvement of the designer in creating a
unique experience pavilion that excites, informs as well as involves clients is
pure proof of having his fingers on the pulse of the market. Kudos to the teams
for reinventing our love for chocolate!
Fact File:
Client: Venchi
Design Lead: Carlo Ratti Associati
Design 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: FGM (Fabrizio Milani)
Area: 28 sq. m.– Vertical chocolate wall only.
Location: Italy
Nice post, things explained in details. Thank You.
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