EDITORIAL TEAM | ARCHITECTURE

There are figures who don't simply design buildings, but redefine the very meaning of architecture. Carlo Ratti belongs to this category: his work is never mere construction, but a thought device. Technology and invisibility, ecology and adaptive materials, economics and natura naturans : in him, tensions coexist that transform space into a living organism, capable of learning and responding.

The philosophy of the future

Carlo Ratti works on the idea of ​​a senseable city : a sensitive city, permeated by data and artificial intelligence , where architecture becomes an invisible interface between body and environment . No longer walls and facades, but breathing membranes, surfaces that interact with the climate, structures that dissolve into nature. It is an architecture that does not impose itself, but adapts.

A constellation of practices

This vision is not isolated. Other architects are working along similar lines:

• Bjarke Ingels (BIG) , with his hedonistic sustainability , transforms sustainability into pleasure and urban play.

• Shigeru Ban , who with paper and bamboo demonstrates how fragility can become ethical and social strength.

• Jeanne Gang , who works on resilience and community, intertwining ecology and social cohesion.

• Mario Cucinella , interpreter of a Mediterranean biomimicry , where materials and climate become protagonists.

• Kengo Kuma , master of invisibility, dissolving architecture into the fabric of nature.

• Alejandro Aravena , who makes social adaptability his hallmark, with scalable and participatory projects.

Together, these names outline a new genealogy: architects who do not build monuments, but ecosystems of meaning .

Materials and adaptability

Material itself becomes the protagonist. Aerogel, eco-cement, raw earth, natural fibers: no longer inert elements, but living substances, capable of reacting. Architecture becomes chemistry and biology, a laboratory for radical adaptation.

Philosophy and responsibility

Here philosophical reflection comes into play: architecture as an act of responsibility . Spinoza spoke of natura naturans* , nature that creates and transforms. Contemporary architecture, if it wants to live up to the times, must be part of this process: not domination, but participation. Not isolated aesthetics, but shared ethics.

* Spinoza thus divides Nature internally into Natura naturans (or " nature naming "), understood as the primordial cause of the universe ( therefore God and his attributes ), and Natura naturata (or " nature natured "), understood as the sum of its effects. It is evident here that both aspects are two sides of the same coin, namely the geometric order of the universe.

Carlo Ratti and his contemporaries show us that the future is not an abstract utopia, but a concrete adaptation . Buildings that breathe, cities that learn, materials that transform: architecture becomes organism, consciousness, memory. It's not about building more, but about building better: with invisibility, with ecology, with responsibility . From this perspective, architecture is no longer just the art of building , but the art of living .

A constellation of practices: architects of adaptation

Bjarke Ingels – Sustainability as a Game

With the concept of hedonistic sustainability , Ingels has demonstrated that sustainability isn't about sacrifice, but about pleasure. His projects—from power plants transformed into ski slopes to urban spaces transformed into parks—teach that ecology can be a playful and shared experience. Educationally, Ingels demonstrates how architecture can inspire the joy of sustainable living.

Shigeru Ban – Fragility as strength

Ban has transformed paper and bamboo into materials of architectural dignity. His Paper Houses and emergency shelters for refugees teach that fragility is not weakness, but ethics . His lesson is clear: architecture must be accessible, temporary if necessary, and capable of responding to social emergencies. It is an educational invitation to rethink the value of materials.

Jeanne Gang – Community and Resilience

Gang works on the intersection of ecology and social cohesion. Her buildings are not just forms, but instruments of urban resilience. Her teaching is community-based: architecture as a catalyst for relationships, as an infrastructure that supports collective life . She teaches the lesson that sustainability is not just environmental, but also social.

Mario Cucinella – Mediterranean Biomimicry

Cucinella brings the lessons of climate and local materials to the heart of his design. His architecture mimics Mediterranean nature, transforming biomimicry into a language . The resulting teaching focuses on context: each building is an organism that interacts with the sun, wind, and earth . His lesson is that sustainability is rootedness.

Kengo Kuma – Invisibility as an Aesthetic

Kuma dissolves architecture into the fabric of nature. His transparent surfaces, layered woods, and breathing textures teach that the building should not impose itself, but disappear. His teaching is one of humility: architecture as a minimal gesture, a presence that vanishes to make room for the landscape.

Alejandro Aravena – Social Adaptability

Aravena made architecture participatory and scalable. His half-houses , designed to be completed by the inhabitants, teach that the project is never finished, but open . His teaching is one of social responsibility: architecture as a process that adapts to resources and communities.

These figures, along with Carlo Ratti, have changed contemporary architecture. They have taught that design is no longer an isolated act of authorship, but a laboratory of adaptation . Their teaching is plural: play, fragility, community, biomimicry, invisibility, participation. Together, they demonstrate that architecture today is a choral knowledge, an art of living that becomes a shared responsibility.