keep cool
Workshop for cool Cities
“... The 19th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale ... addresses architecture ... as part of an expanded sphere that encompasses art, engineering, biology, data science, social and political sciences, planetary system sciences, and other disciplines ... the exhibition ... will ... explore a definition of “Intelligens” as the ability to adapt to the environment with limited resources ... (in order) to accelerate the transformation of the present through fearless experimentation ... Intelligens ... creates a hybrid architecture beyond architects ...”
(Carlo Ratti, Director of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale 2025)
The local warming of cities due to climate change and intensified urbanization is widely addressed. At Salone Verde, we ask how to live with climate change, not how to stop it.
How does one live with heat? How does one adapt to it? In Havana, Sergio, the director of the School of Product Design, says: “We have no solution for the heat. It’s not a technical problem, but a psychological one.” We fan the air toward ourselves and feel lighter on a stuffy day.
We can create comfortable living spaces using energy-intensive technologies — but these are part of the problem. Cultures that have accepted high temperatures for centuries have developed technologies that respond intelligently to these conditions. Their building techniques, materials, and forms contradict our conventional standards — and it is precisely through this contrast that they offer new perspectives on universal beauty.
Local building styles are masterpieces of adaptation to the conditions. They make use of natural resources and maintain a balance between humans and nature. Solar chimneys, wind towers, and earth channels are just some of the solutions developed by other cultures - and also by our own ancestors: “architecture without architects”. The era in which the so-called “developed industrial nations” explained the world to others is over. Today, these cultures share their stories — and we are here to listen.
Shadow casting and air movement are taken for granted in this context. At Salone Verde, we adapt both phenomena and develop them further through artistic means. Salone Verde becomes a “workshop for cool cities,” adopting a relaxed position within the wider debate. “keep cool” is an exhibition with two intertwined narratives: “Flight into Shadow” and “Heat is a Psychological Problem”.
(Carlo Ratti, Director of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale 2025)
The local warming of cities due to climate change and intensified urbanization is widely addressed. At Salone Verde, we ask how to live with climate change, not how to stop it.
How does one live with heat? How does one adapt to it? In Havana, Sergio, the director of the School of Product Design, says: “We have no solution for the heat. It’s not a technical problem, but a psychological one.” We fan the air toward ourselves and feel lighter on a stuffy day.
We can create comfortable living spaces using energy-intensive technologies — but these are part of the problem. Cultures that have accepted high temperatures for centuries have developed technologies that respond intelligently to these conditions. Their building techniques, materials, and forms contradict our conventional standards — and it is precisely through this contrast that they offer new perspectives on universal beauty.
Local building styles are masterpieces of adaptation to the conditions. They make use of natural resources and maintain a balance between humans and nature. Solar chimneys, wind towers, and earth channels are just some of the solutions developed by other cultures - and also by our own ancestors: “architecture without architects”. The era in which the so-called “developed industrial nations” explained the world to others is over. Today, these cultures share their stories — and we are here to listen.
Shadow casting and air movement are taken for granted in this context. At Salone Verde, we adapt both phenomena and develop them further through artistic means. Salone Verde becomes a “workshop for cool cities,” adopting a relaxed position within the wider debate. “keep cool” is an exhibition with two intertwined narratives: “Flight into Shadow” and “Heat is a Psychological Problem”.
Protagonists from left to right: Isotta Predieri, Predieri+Varini Architetti Associati; Prof. Ralf Petersen, Salone Verde art & social club; Anna Petersen, Salone Verde art & social club; Piotr Baszynski, Universität Stuttgart; Melissa Acker, HFT Stuttgart; Eliza Biala, Universität Stuttgart; Prof. Sabine Wiesend, TH Deggendorf; Prof. Martin Ostermann, Universität Stuttgart; Era Merkuri, heramarte, Stuttgart; Franziska Rieder, Assistent, TH Deggendorf; Prof. Diane Ziegler, HFT Stuttgart