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Carlo Ratti’s centre for digital culture opens in Milan

A digital culture centre designed by Italian architects Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota, opened in Milan on Saturday.

The 1,500 sq m venue is located on three floors of a 20th-century Milanese palazzo, which has been renovated over the past two years.

The MEET project contains an auditorium, an immersive hall for digital installations, a movie theatre operated by Cineteca Italiana, workspaces, a central vertical plaza and a 15m high "habitable stairwell" according to Carlo Ratti Associati.

The vertical plaza is situated around a 15m high "habitable stairwell", which zigzags between asymmetric landings.

According to the architects, these landings can be used for talks, installations and art performances, as well as "chance encounters as people navigate through the building".

Carlo Ratti, said: "At this time, it is vital to use architecture to produce serendipitous moments and help foster new connections – precisely those that rarely happen on the web.

"One way to achieve this objective is to overcome any strict division of spatial functions. When every place can serve multiple purposes, it brings together multiple communities, facilitating the generation and circulation of new ideas."

Images courtesy of Michele Nastasi

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