Article source: Federico Giacomarra

The project Empathy Garden was born as an installation in the Central Pavilion of the Exhibition Centre of Villa Erba on the Lake of Como in occasion of Orticolario (3-5 October 2014) – one of Italy’s leading events on advanced gardening.

Image Courtesy © Federico Giacomarra

• Architects: Federico Giacomarra
• Project: Empathy Garden
• Location: Central Pavilion, Centro Congressi Villa Erba. Cernobbio, Como.
• Concept and Design: Giacomarra Architecture
• Landscape Architecture: Matteo Fogaroli Landscape Architecture
• Music and Sound Design: IacopoSinigaglia
• Interaction Design: Marco Pesoli
• Marketing: Domenico Canzioniero
• Client: Orticolario 2014
• Size: 300 sqm
• Budget: 30’000 €
• Software used: 
  • Rhinoceros 3d + Grasshopper an advanced computational modeling tool. We used optimization algorithms to reduce the types of components, the software calculated the length of each flower box side reducing the number of variations. The parametric approach was crucial to find the best oriented production design.The roar was thus chosen as base module, in that it offered a good coverage of the space whilst optimizing the number of components. The base modules are six, from 0.5 sqm to 3 sqm, formed by the combination of 4 different cuts which then compose the sides of the planters, 8 different nodes with as many optimized variations for the joining of the elements. The result is a total area of 300 square meters, consisting of 50 modules and 90 nodal elements.

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