International design and innovation office CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati unveils “Post Office Pod: Working from Everywhere”, a modular system for outdoor workspaces that blurs the lines between nature and work. Created by a transdisciplinary team that includes sociologist Richard Florida, landscape architect Anna Maria Scaravella, climate comfort expert Marialena Nikolopoulou, urban innovator Rohan Silva, and engineering firm Recchi, this project has been unveiled at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice. Supported by Italy’s postal authority, it will then be replicated across Italy, contributing to Poste Italiane’s Polis Project, which aims to reduce the urban-rural divide and transform post offices into hubs for innovation.
The Venice installation is a garden transformed into a workplace. Nine modular pods, each featuring a green roof, are set up within the Giardini della Biennale. Visitors can use these pods for everything, from traditional laptop work to videoconferencing, meetings, 3D printing, and even napping. Thermal mass and rooftop greenery help cool the space, while plants cascade down the sides, forming a green shield against the scorching summer sun. Solar panels and a water collection system complete the setup. “Think of it as a high-tech hammock: easy to deploy yet surprisingly versatile.’ – says Carlo Ratti, Founding Partner of CRA and Curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
After their debut in Venice, the pods will be replicated and find new homes in Italy’s 7,000 post offices – as part of Poste Italiane’s Polis Project. The goal is to revitalize small towns and villages, bridging the urban-rural divide. These pods are part of a larger initiative to rethink post offices as hubs where communities can thrive. With modularity at its core, this project is flexible and can be adapted to various local settings.
“At a time when workers demand more flexibility, companies need creative solutions, and cities must rethink public spaces, the integration of outdoor workspaces is not just a niche trend,” says Richard Florida, urban studies theorist and Professor at the University of Toronto. “It’s a necessity. If the office as we knew it is no longer enough, then the next logical step is to look beyond the office altogether.”
“This project embodies the Biennale Architettura’s ambition to be a ‘living lab’ for ideas that can be tested in Venice and then replicated elsewhere,” says Carlo Ratti, Founding Partner of CRA and Curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. “In this sense, the pods embody what this Biennale Architettura stands for. After the exhibition, the pods will bring connectivity to rural areas, offering new ways in which public infrastructure can serve diverse communities.”
Post Office Pod builds on CRA’s legacy of reimagining public spaces and the future of work. The design is part of CRA’s ongoing experimentation with innovative workspaces, including the CapitaSpring skyscraper in Singapore, designed with BIG, which features a “green oasis” at its core, and the renovation of Oscar Niemeyer’s Palazzo Mondadori in Milan, which also promotes close connections between work and nature.
CREDITS
POST OFFICE POD: WORKING FROM EVERYWHERE
CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati (Coordinator)
Recchi Engineering
Richard Florida
Marialena Nikolopoulou
Rohan Silva
Anna Maria Scaravella
CRA team: Carlo Ratti, Andrea Cassi (Partner-in-Charge), Marco Conte, Gizem Veral, Maximo Molinelli, Xavier Pons Cussò, Andrea Spaccini, Iratxe De Dios; Recchi Engineering (Project Coordinators): Lorenzo Dei Poli, Oliviero Recchi
Supporter: Poste Italiane
Photos by: Antonio Guiotto
The pods are equipped with 3D printers as part of PRODUCTION POTENTIAL: THE FUTURE OF VACANT BUILDINGS
Versostudio, Arsenalia
Field States
With the support of Business Oregon, Arsenalia
HILOS
Wacom
Henoto