CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati unveiled the design of Vibram Connection Lab Milano, the new innovative research and development laboratory for outdoor gear in Milan.
As Milan prepares for the Winter Olympics in 2026, the project experiments with new methods of blending natural and artificial design components in the building, by incorporating multiple rocky terrains from the Alps.
The creative laboratory occupies 420 square meters of a former industrial building and it features a 36 meter long testing ground that recreates most of the different mountain terrains found across the Alps.
The stones that make the floor constitute a matrix of rocky granulometries, gradually shifting from fine-grained surface on one side to Dolomitic rocks including Candogli and Rosewood marble on another.
The testing area includes a climbing wall, space for gait analysis, and workstations for researchers; in addition, the lab can be transformed into a public space for events or workshops, in accordance with Vibram’s open-source creative process.
Furthermore, molecular techniques and an electrostatic filter in the ventilation system are employed to reproduce the chemical composition of the Alpine air inside the laboratory.
Carlo Ratti explains:
“In 1927, the German writer Kurt Tucholsky penned a poem called ‘The Ideal’. He dreamed of a building where one side faces the bustling center of the city, and the other side the Alps. This was the inspiration for our project, which strives to reconnect Milan to its Alpine roots. I believe that bridging the worlds of the natural and artificial is the key challenge of contemporary design. Together with Vibram, we tried to bring the Alpine atmosphere to the center of the city.”
