The Greenary, Mutti house in Parma, Northern Italy Farmhouse Building, Italian Architecture Photos
The Greenary near Parma, Northern Italy
19 October 2021
The Greenary: Building a House around a Tree
Design: CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, in collaboration with Italo Rota
Location: Parma, north-central Italy

Photos by Delfino Sisto Legnani and Alessandro Saletta from DSL Studio
The Greenary, Parma
CRA unveils the Greenary, a private residence built around a ten-meter-tall ficus tree, located at the center of the living space. The traditional Italian farmhouse was redesigned to showcase new approaches to blur the boundaries between the natural and artificial.

October 19, 2021 – International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, in collaboration with Italo Rota, unveils the Greenary, a residence that revolves around a ten-meter-tall tree at the center of the house. Multiple living quarters encircle the tree?s leafy branches, all the way up to its top. Located in the Northern Italian countryside, the house was commissioned by Francesco Mutti, CEO of Mutti, the European leading producer of tomato-related products. The project advances CRA?s research into new ways of fusing architecture, natural elements, and advanced technological solutions.
Built out of a traditional Italian farmhouse outside the city of Parma, the Greenary (a wordplay of ?green-granary?) responds to the idea of biophilia, a scientific hypothesis proposed by noted biologist and Harvard p...