This multi-sensory floating forest creates a greener city at 2022 Milan Design Week

 

Urban greening is a fundamental step in combatting the effects of climate change and improving citizens’ quality of life.

To this end, cities need to be greener: an urban forest can serve as an opportunity to improve the healths of the environment and restore biodiversity to leave a legacy for future generations.

This new 2022 Milan Design Week installation bearing the name of Timberland is a direct consequence of the important role that nature plays.

The project, part of 2022 Tortona Design Week, aims to emphasize the brand’s commitment to being a force for social and environmental good not only by promoting the re-greening of urban areas, but also by highlighting the latest in eco-innovative products.

The attraction designed by Stefano Boeri Interiors was created on the waters of the Darsena in Milan, Italy. The multidisciplinary studio Stefano Boeri Interiors was founded by architects Stefano Boeri and Giorgio Dona. The world-famous design studio operates and develops projects and research in the field of interior architecture, exhibition design and product design.

The “Floating Forest” goal is not only to convey new forms of environmental responsibility and new ways of occupying and transforming urbanized spaces, but to offer a place of intersection and reconciliation between the natural sphere and human beings.

A space for sociality where the distance that the individual puts between himself and the natural world takes on new shapes and sizes.

The forest has been conceptually and physically studied as an independent ecosystem, where 610 plant and 30 species multiply biodiversity and activate environmental benefits related to urban forestry, in connection with other green spaces in Milan.

The forest offers not only an environment where you can rediscover the importance of biodiversity and the benefits of nature, but also a fully immersive experience, both physical and virtual, that through the scent of the flowers and the tactile qualities of the chosen species, involves all the senses.

A range of trees, such as Maple, Birch and Apple, will be present, as well as bushes such as the Aronia Berry, Hydrangea, Mahonia and Pittosporum, and perennial grasses such as Stipa, Eulalia, Anemone, Daylily, Purple Verbena and Pampas.

The path through the installation has four fundamental points related to different senses and leads visitors to interact with the latest ecological product innovations. The sensory elements are brought together through an on-site digital experience, and the experience will also be available online for those unable to attend the 2022 Fuorisalone event in Milan.

The project also aims to leave a legacy for the Milan city, in support of the local community: all the trees that make up the forest will later be donated to Soulfood Forestfarms Hub Italia, a nonprofit organization that facilitates the ecological transition of territories together with local communities̀, institutions and businesses.

Together with CasciNet Agrohub and the University of Milan, it is implementing a regeneration project at Vettabbia Park to transform disused land into a productive, complex and layered agroforestry system managed according to agroecological principles.

In addition, the materials that compose the installation are deliberately dry assembled. This technique allows a great flexibility during the assembly and reassembly phases, as well as the reuse of individual elements once the installation will be dismissed.

The installation will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. from June 7 to 12 at Viale Gabriele D’Annunzio, 20 (Darsena), Milan, Italy.