Carlo Ratti Associati designs Alpine bivouac for Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games

Italian studio Carlo Ratti Associati has collaborated with furniture fair Salone del Mobile to design a cross-laminated timber Alpine bivouac, which will be exhibited at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The bivouac will be unveiled as a pavilion at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in February next year before being airlifted by helicopter to the Alps, where it will become a permanent refuge for mountaineers.

Carlo Ratti Associati designed the bivouac to blend in with the mountainous landscape, with an angular shape drawn from a 3D scan of Alpine rock formations.

Built from cross-laminated timber (CLT), aerogel and metal, it will run self-sufficiently with photovoltaics powering its energy supply and an air condensation system providing clean water.

"Unfortunately, today bivouacs often look like airships that have landed on our beautiful alpine landscapes," said Carlo Ratti Associati founder Carlo Ratti.

"Here, we took the opposite approach – a structure that blends as much as possible with the surroundings," he continued.

"Great 20th-century Italian architect Gio Ponti once said that architecture is 'like a crystal'," added Ratti. "We took that literally in this design, using digital fabrication to design a bivouac as if it were part of the natural rock formations that shape the Alps."

Once nestled into the rugged landscape, the bivouac will be accessed by a vertically opening door.

Its timber-lined interior will step down towards a glazed facade with views across the Alpine surroundings.

In conditions where visibility is limited, the bivouac will emit a bright red light to help mountaineers locate it.

By showcasing the bivouac as a pavilion at the Winter Olympic Games before its installation, Ratti and Salone del Mobile hope to offer a display of environmentally-conscious architecture.

"For the Salone, the bivouac by Carlo Ratti Associati conveys a vision of design we share – one capable of blending landscape, innovation, and respect," said Salone del Mobile president Maria Porro.

"It speaks of a future in which architecture does not impose itself but adapts, observes, and enters into dialogue with the environment, highlighting our material of choice, wood, as an emblem of conversation with nature," Porro continued.

"It is a gesture that turns research into a form of harmony with the natural world and that, in its journey from our Milan to the Alps, expresses the principles we share: a circular, responsible design."

Earlier this year, Ratti also unveiled a pair of iridescent torches designed for the 2026 Winter Games.

Other bivouacs in Italy on Dezeen include a "minimally invasive" tent-like structure by EX and an aluminium-clad cabin elevated on stilts by BCW Collective.

The images are courtesy of Carlo Ratti Associati.

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