Milan, Italy
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associate and Italo Rota for Gruppo Saviola present “Wood You Believe?” — a pavilion that transforms four tons of post-consumer wooden objects into an experimental space featuring an immersive room with ecological panels that leverage digital printing to advance the work of architects and interior designers.
Gruppo Saviola celebrates its 60th anniversary and participates for the first time in the Salone del Mobile with an installation created in partnership with Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota.
“Our collaboration with Gruppo Saviola shows that design aspires to reduce waste and is simultaneously inspired by it,” says Italo Rota.
“The catalyst behind the monumental pavilion façade is a desire to salvage nature through the use of advanced artificial devices.”
Gruppo Saviola’s pavilion is a clear reference to circular economy and sustainability.
Titled Wood You Believe? , its façade is cladded with four tons of post-consumer wooden objects such as scrapped wooden desks, chairs, pallets, fruit crates, and other wooden objects stacked together.
“Our industrial production line has become a benchmark for design through its advanced technology and quality. The ecological panels are highly versatile, encompassing 70,000 different patterns and textures,” says Alessandro Saviola, President of Gruppo Saviola.
“At the core of our products is a sense of commitment to sustainability. The use of post-consumer wood eliminates the need of cutting down trees – ten thousand of them have been saved every day thanks to that.”
This three-dimensional collage serves as a reminder of the enormous amount of wood waste produced by the furniture industry.
By reintegrating everyday objects into our living spaces, the design complies with the principles of the circular economy to stretch their longevity and functionality beyond their intended life cycles.
At the pavilion’s interior, the visitors will see an immersive room clad in ecological panels that emphasize the potential of digital printing in realizing impactful and sustainable bespoke designs.
“The use-and-dispose consumption pattern is one of the main underlying causes of the environmental problems we are facing now,” says Carlo Ratti, founding partner of CRA and director of MIT Senseable City Lab.
“Wood You Believe? taps into an enormous pool of resources that have always been available to us. With the support of digital technologies, what was made redundant becomes something to treasure.”
The Wood You Believe? project will be exhibited at Fiera Milano between April 18 and 23, 2023.
Project: Wood You Believe?
Architects: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Studio Italo Rota & Partners
Design Team: Carlo Ratti, Jelena Krco, Gary di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Mykola Murashko , Sara Zampieron, Marco Guarany, Mohamed Yasser Hariss, and Gianluca Zimbardi
Client: Gruppo Saviola
Renderings: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati
