International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Office for Living Architecture (OLA), and non-profit organization GAL Terre del Po unveil The Tree Path.
This elevated bicycle route runs in-between trees, resting on two parallel rows of plants that act as pillars.
Set in the Italian countryside, the project leads to Sabbioneta – one of the country’s best-known UNESCO World Heritage Sites – and explores sustainable mobility while blending the natural and the artificial.
People can walk or cycle on a lifted platform amidst treetops, while sensors embedded within the greenery track environmental conditions in real time.
The Tree Path was designed by CRA in close collaboration with OLA, one of the world’s leading experts in a technique known as Baubotanik (“botanic construction” in German) – by which trees can become ever-evolving architectural elements.
The project envisions planting roughly one thousand trees, whose growth would be a central element of the design process.
The plants would grow around a stainless steel handrail, building and transforming the path structure over several years.
The Tree Path unfolds vertically on three different levels, rising to six meters above the ground, bypassing road traffic and waterways.
The pathway incorporates digital sensors to measure multiple factors in the atmosphere, from air pollution to individual trees’ health and growth status.
The sensors will also help ensure that all the living organisms along the path can respond to changing environmental conditions or structural loads – realizing a vision of an “Internet of trees”.
The project will use the artificial intelligence system provided by the Mindicity Urban Intelligence platform.
“What if one day we could grow architecture like a tree? We are still very far from that future, but we can start exploring the convergence between the natural and the artificial. We can use trees as elements of construction, while leveraging the data from digital technologies to get a better understanding of the surrounding environment”
Carlo Ratti
The Tree Path will connect the VENTO Cycle Route, a 700-kilometre-long bicycle path that parallels the Po river across north Italy, with Sabbioneta, via the neighbouring town of Casalmaggiore. Sabbioneta is located near the city of Mantua.
Renderings by CRA Graphic Team: Gary di Silvio, Pasquale Milieri, Gianluca Zimbardi
