AQUA - Milan Design Week - Territory Studio

A city from dawn to dusk

Inspired by Da Vinci’s visionary plans for an Ideal City, the team imagined Milan in 2050. Uniting themes of nature, innovation and beauty, this visual media installation envisages a landscape formed by water, engineering and vision.

A scene in movement, we worked with sound artist Chiara Luzzana and computer graphic designer and artist Andrew Quinn, to deliver an installation programmed using TouchDesigner to reflect real time light, atmospheric and weather conditions occurring in Milan throughout the week.

Building the installation

To create a flexible and responsive cityscape that reflects daylight and weather in real time, we created a system of layered assets for simultaneous playback.
As a backdrop for activity, atmospherics and interactions, this layered approach supported a range of variables and variations throughout the day. Bridges, water, vehicles, architectural details, signage, light and weather conditions, reflections, shadow and the suggestion of people were all carefully considered and mapped in the context of dynamic layers.

Project development

Asked to create a dynamic vision of Milan in 2050, we drew references from natural landscapes formed by water. With a fixed perspective along the Conca dell’Incoronata canal lock, we looked to create a flow through the city, leading the eye into the very heart of a futuristic cityscape.
Our creative approach to the cityscape was informed by Executive Creative Director Marco Balich and the Salone’s optimistic vision that together, we can overcome the challenges of climate change that lie before us and create new materials, technologies and approaches that will enable us to live in greater harmony with our world.

Architectural vision

Beginning with sketches of architectural styles that felt appropriate to place and context, we further developed and refined a cityscape, finally adding surface textures and details suggestive of a richly layered environment.

Futuristic Vehicles

With the futuristic cityscape brief, the creative team took an experimental approach to vehicle development. Drawing inspiration from the installation theme ‘AQUA’, we explored the behaviour of water droplets as design language. To ensure flexibility in the fast evolving project, we modelled a hero wireframe form in Cinema 4D that could be manipulated and distorted into a variety of fluid shapes that visually and conceptually belonged together. These forms, along with a kit of peripherals such as engines, rotors and storage units, meant we could create a whole fleet of flying vehicles that represented local transportation, taxis, refuse collection and the Police force – complete with familiar livery in a nod to local culture.

AQUA: Leonardo’s Vision

A city from dawn to dusk

Building the installation

Project development

Architectural vision

Building the City

City Dev Stills

Futuristic Vehicles

Vehicle Development

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