Carlo Ratti Associati Explore Energy Sharing with the World’s Largest Urban Solar Farm for Expo 2030 in Rome

Carlo Ratti Associati Explore Energy Sharing with the World’s Largest Urban Solar Farm for Expo 2030 in Rome

CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, together with architect Italo Rota and urbanist Richard Burdett, unveiled the master plan for Rome’s bid to host the World Expo in 2030. The project proposes a joint effort from every participating country to contribute to a solar farm that could power the exhibition site and help decarbonize the surrounding neighborhoods. The Expo is proposed to take place in Tor Vergata, a vast area in Rome and home to the eponymous university and a densely inhabited residential district. All the pavilions are designed to be fully reusable, as the area is proposed to be transformed into an innovation district after the event in the hope of revitalizing the somewhat neglected neighborhood. The master plan was developed with several partners, including ARUP for sustainability, infrastructure, and costing, LAND for landscape design, and Systematica for mobility strategy.

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The proposed solar farm covers an area of 150,000 square meters and has an estimated production capacity of 36 megawatt-peak. This would make it the largest urban publicly accessible solar farm in the world. Inside it, hundreds of ‘energy trees’ open and close their panels throughout the day, harvesting energy and providing shade for the visitors. The complex energy grid is complemented by the “eco-system 0.0” pavilion which provides cooling through evaporation.

The master plan is organized into three main areas: the City, the Boulevard, and the Park. This system creates a gradual transition between the artificial and the natural world, which both need to contribute to combating climate change. The City in the west will host the Expo Village and represents an extension of the University of Tor Vergata’s campus, allowing it to be easily integrated into the urban tissue after the end of the event. The Boulevard is the central pedestrian axis that connects all the pavilions. At the same time, the Park in the east provides ample green spaces that accentuate a few thematic buildings, including “Pale Blue Dot,” a pavilion dedicated to disseminating knowledge about the natural world.

To underline the need for neighborhood revitalization, the plan aims to adaptively reuse the massive sports complex known as “Le Vele” designed by Santiago Calatrava. The site will become the flagship pavilion of Expo 2030 Roma and an attraction point next to the main entrance of the exhibition. Transportation and mobility connections are also integrated into the proposal, among which a long green corridor connects the site of the Expo to the adjacent archeological sites on the Appian Way and Rome’s other historical buildings.

We conceived this project like a feasible utopia – one that aims to be a catalyst for new projects and ideas. The main driver behind this goal is to let natural ecosystems and technological inventions work in sync, just like human and natural energy would make each other more intense. This new approach to temporary events could become the foundation of a new model for urban development. – architect Italo Rota

CRA has also designed the Future Food District for Expo 2015 in Milano and, after the event’s closing, it released the master plan for MIND-Milan Innovation District on the same site. The project is currently under construction. The office has worked with architect Italo Rota on several projects, including one that uses origami-inspired kinetic elements to transform an 18^th-century hospital in Modena, Italy, into a multidisciplinary cultural and innovation hub. The same architects have also designed the new MAE museum in Piacenza, Italy, dedicated to carbon fiber and built from the same material.