A team comprising Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota, Eni, and Blob Factory Gaming have presented an installation at Milan Design Week which transformed Milan’s Botanical Garden into a 37,000-square-foot interactive game. Titled ‘Walk the Talk,’ the board game saw over 400 energy-harvesting luminescent tiles form multiple pathways and crossroads across the landscape, engaging players in what the team calls “a discourse underlying the future of mobility.”

The installation has been structured as a “metaphorical stroll around Milan” featuring the city’s major landmarks. Each of the 400 wooden tiles and 32 types of icons represents either an obstacle or a solution to the game’s theme of urban mobility, from traffic to public transportation and electric car sharing. Working either alone or in groups, players navigate throughout the ‘city’ by finding solutions to challenges such as overcrowded neighborhoods or a lack of pedestrian areas.

The colored tiles have been produced with a combination of special luminescent varnishes and films which harvest and store energy during the day and release a prolonged glow after dusk. The glowing effect is enhanced by a low-intensity lighting system throughout the garden, which allows the game to be played at night.

“The future of mobility presents substantial challenges which require collective understanding and participation,” said Carlo Ratti about the scheme. “At a time when digital gamification is everywhere, we wanted to experiment with a physical game board - one of the largest ever made. “Walk the Talk” is an accessible experience to help jumpstart an important conversation about the future of mobility.”

Carlo Ratti Associati is one of several major architecture studios to contribute to Milan Design Week. Earlier this month, we covered news of MAD’s installation at the event, comprising a large iron cube structure titled 45 degrees from its base.