Floating culture. AquaPraça at COP30 by CRA-Carlo Ratti and Höweler + Yoon

The architecture studios CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon have designed AquaPraça, a different kind of project: a floating cultural plaza that was presented in Venice in September at the Arsenale and now reappears in the city of Belém, Brazil, becoming one of the spaces and symbols of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP30.

The project has been presented as an integral part of the Italian pavilion, installed in the Guajará Bay, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, and the Presidency of COP30.

AquaPraça at COP30 by CRA-Carlo Ratti and Höweler + Yoon. Photograph by Leonardo Finotti.

The project presented at COP30 by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Höweler + Yoon as an extension of the House of Eleven Windows will remain in Brazil as a permanent cultural infrastructure to promote social participation in climate issues and cultural strategies.

The floating plaza will be anchored in Guajará Bay, the confluence of the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean, where tides of up to four meters reveal the underwater landscape daily. A product of cooperation between Italy and Brazil, it contributes to the global climate dialogue and stands as a symbol of adaptive architecture.

AquaPraça at COP30 by CRA-Carlo Ratti and Höweler + Yoon. Photograph by Leonardo Finotti.

The 400 m² plaza combines technology and sustainability, exploring the idea of building with nature. This floating forum allows visitors to connect with the sea at eye level, immersing themselves in its fluctuations and ecosystems.

This square plaza is characterized by its double curvature, both on the ground and the roof. The floor features asymmetrical slopes and a central rectangular opening resembling a pool, with seating around it. The roof, a metal-framed pergola, mirrors the shape of the floor, including a skylight above the pool.

AquaPraça at COP30 by CRA-Carlo Ratti and Höweler + Yoon. Photograph by Leonardo Finotti.

“In 1980, Aldo Rossi looked to the past to prove that architecture could still enrich the skyline of Venice. Today, with AquaPraça, we look to the future—exploring how to build with nature, not against it. In doing so, we extend Rossi’s dialogue with the city toward a dialogue with the planet. The project was always conceived as a journey: a structure with many lives. From Venice to Belém as Italy's pavilion for COP30, and will ultimately remain in the Amazon as permanent cultural infrastructure. This is the essence of circularity—the continual reuse and reinvention over time.”

Carlo Ratti.

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Architects

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CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Höweler + Yoon.

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Project team

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CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati.- Carlo Ratti (Principal), Andrea Cassi (Principal), Luca Bussolino (Strategy), Gizem Veral (Senior Architect), Rodolfo Siccardi (Senior Architect), Sonia Simone (Architect), Gary di Silvio (Architect/3D Artist), Pasquale Milieri (Architect/3D Artist), Gianluca Zimbardi (Architect/3D Artist).
Höweler + Yoon.- J Meejin Yoon (Principal), Eric Höweler (Principal), Asli Baran Grace (Project manager), Shuang Chen (Designer), Selin Sahin (researcher), David Hamm (Technical Advisor).

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Carlo Ratti Associati

Carlo Ratti Associati (born in 1971 in Turin, Italy) is an international design and innovation office based in Torino, Italy, with branches in New York and London. Drawing on Carlo Ratti’s research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Senseable City Lab, the office is currently involved in many projects across the globe, embracing every scale of intervention – from furniture to urban planning. The work of the practice merges design with cutting-edge digital technologies, so as to contribute to the creation of an architecture “that senses and responds”.

Noteworthy achievements at the urban and architectural scale include the masterplan for a creative hub in the City of Guadalajara, the renovation of the Agnelli Foundation HQ in Torino, the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015, and the Digital Water Pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008. Product design projects range from experimental furniture for Cassina to light installations for Artemide, to responsive seating systems with Vitra.

In all these circumstances, the studio investigated the ways in which new technologies, including digital sensors and portable devices, are changing both the built environment and everyday life. The works of the practice have been featured in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC, Wired, Boston Globe, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera, and Domus. The studio's projects have been exhibited in cultural venues such as the Venice Biennale, New York’s MoMA, Istanbul Design Biennial, and many others.

Carlo Ratti Associati is the only design firm whose works have been featured twice in TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year” list – respectively with the Digital Water Pavilion in 2007 and the Copenhagen Wheel in 2014. In the last years, the office has been involved in the launch of Makr Shakr, a startup producing the world’s first robotic bar system.

Eric Höweler - J. Meejin Yoon. MY Studio

Höweler + Yoon is a design-driven architecture and urbanism practice whose work is deeply informed by social and cultural context. Höweler + Yoon Architecture has received numerous awards including the Progressive Architecture Award, the Audi Urban Futures Award, the Design Vanguard Award by Architectural Record, the Emerging Voices Award by the Architecture League, as well as several national and local AIA awards and honors.

Eric Höweler (b. Cali, Colombia) is a registered architect, architectural writer, and co-founder of Höweler + Yoon Architecture. He is an Assistant Professor in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Eric Höweler is a registered architect in New York, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Washington DC and Virginia, and he is a LEED Accredited Professional. He is the author of Skyscraper: Vertical Now, published by Rizzoli/Universe Publishers in 2003. He received a Bachelor of Architecture (1994) and a Masters of Architecture (1996) from Cornell University.

J. Meejin Yoon (b. Seoul, Korea) is an architect, designer, and educator. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of MY Studio (2000) and Höweler + Yoon Architecture (2005). She is the recipient of the United States Artist Award (2009), the RISD/Target Athena Award (2008), the Rome Prize Fellowship in Design (2005), the Metro New York 5 under 35 Award (2005), the Young Architects Award from the Architectural League of New York (2002), and Fulbright Fellowship (1997). She received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University with the AIA Henry Adams Medal (1995), and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design with Distinction from Harvard University Graduate School of Design (1997).