The Orto Botanico (Botanical Garden) in Brera is a pleasant spot, largely unknown, in the heart of Milan. A silent green area enclosed by patrician residences and, on one side, by the Brera Accademia Art Museum.

Brought together by similar approaches – closer to top artistic craftsmanship than to production-line industry – they have involved two great masters of design and architecture to give shape to a project of senses and emotions: Paola Navone for Barovier & Toso ( glass) and Zaha Hadid Architects for Citco (marble).

In Paola Navone’s project, chandeliers in traditional Murano blown glass, enhanced with refined colours, are placed inside large “nests” interwoven with hazelnut trees, spread on the lawn or hanging from the trees. 15,000 have been required, the result of felling diseased trees, with the aim of reinvigorating the plants. The nests hide and protect the chandeliers, inviting visitors to have a curious peek between branches and gaps.

Guiding the visitors along the garden path, a small glass figure, designed by Navone, holds up a lamp shade. Along the trail, a blue stool in the form of a wine bottle cork waits for the guests to sit down and experience the strength associated with modern glass production.

Paola Navone

Paola Navone ………. Very large nests, woven with 11,000 hazelnut branches from the springtime pruning.
Large nests of different shapes.
Resting on the ground or floating in the air.
To be searched for amongst the trees.
To be discovered in the garden.
To be touched.
To get close to so as to have a look inside.
Nests which welcome and protect some of the most beautiful pieces of the Murano glassmaking tradition which have come by chance to the garden

Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid has designed a pavilion which brings together three vertical surfaces in marble created by Citco.

The walls are made up of a jigsaw of irregularly-shaped, multi-faceted marble chips which adopt repeated patterns, acquiring great material force in their three-dimensionality.

The deconstructed architecture of the pavilion is close to having an organic look and fits in well in this extraordinarily natural context, bringing the best out of the company’s expertise in making contemporary inlaid surfaces with strong emotional impact. A project of weight which seeks to win the attention of designers, inviting them to introduce elements which are full of expression and are capable of giving character to interiors.

The composition of each of the three showcased works is derived from the intricate beauty of organizational systems in the natural world.

These fascinating scenarios are established when energy is applied to geology–developing a geometric set of repeated growth and erosion cycles.

Each piece is immaculately crafted in marble by Citco.

They invite further investigation; revealing formal complexity, repetition and textures that celebrate the detailed process and fluidity of natural systems – a persuasive manifesto of nature’s unrivalled logic and unity; a journey of discovery into the forces of their creation

Zaha Hadid …………….. “The composition of the marble panels derives from the complex beauty found in the organisational patterns of the natural world. These fascinating patterns appear when energy combines with geology, developing a geometrical series of repeated cycles of growth and erosion which are layered in the immaculate marble of Citco.

Each piece is a structured composition which begs to be explored, revealing a complexity of form, repetitions and lines which celebrate the detailed process and the fluidity of natural systems: it is a convincing manifesto of the peerless logic and harmony of nature; a journey of discovery into the forces which created them.

The demanding organisation, the structural integrity and the precision of these natural systems inspire a rich architectural language with an innate capacity for complex
programming.

The formal dynamic of the design of the pavilion has been created with delicate touches that follow a coherent and logical order. A rhythm of cracks, folds and recesses defines the spaces which surround every piece: an integration of different shapes which reflect the individuality of each panel, while encouraging the treatment of each piece as part of the whole.

This dialogue of geometries establishes a direct relationship between nature and architecture, a natural evolution of the creative language explored thanks to techniques
which exploit the innovations in the digital design process and production techniques”.