Carlo Ratti has designed the torch for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games with a subtractive approach, placing the flame – and sustainability – at the centre: recycled materials, a rechargeable burner, and an essential aesthetic. Architect and innovator, Ratti is also involved in the Games through a collateral project in collaboration with Salone del Mobile.Milano: an urban pavilion that will later be installed in the Alps to serve as a high-altitude bivouac. In this interview, he reflects not only on “his” torch, but on the vision, choices, and responsibilities of contemporary design.
The Olympic torch carries a powerful emotional and symbolic charge. Is this the first time you have worked on an object of such resonance? What was your approach, your interpretive key? Which criteria – either requested by the organizers and/or defined by you – guided the design?
From the outset, we tried to step back as designers and allow the true protagonist of the Olympics to come forward: the flame. We wanted an object that would exalt what it carries. At the same time, we worked closely with Cavagna Group to develop an advanced burner, with Versalis on a bio-derived fuel, and with the Milano Cortina Committee to define criteria and goals. The result is an essential torch, made from recycled materials and designed for reuse.
The torch will enjoy enormous visibility and is destined, inevitably, to become a global icon. Did that influence the project? How do you speak, formally and aesthetically, to such a vast audience?
We sought a form that would welcome rather than impose. The PVD surface is reflective and changes with its surroundings. It blends with the snow, the sky, the landscape around it. The torch does not ask to be observed; it is there to accompany and adapt. Every aesthetic choice was made to focus attention on the flame. A longitudinal cut reveals the technical core of the burner, exposing and sharing the magic of ignition.
You are known for your interest in technological innovation. How does this manifest in the torch? Beyond its appearance, how does it differ from those of past editions? And how long did the design and production process take?
The burner we developed with Cavagna Group can be refilled up to ten times. This allowed us to produce far fewer torches – 1,500 rather than the many thousands used in previous editions. The metals are recycled, and the fuel is a bio-LPG derived from agricultural waste. We worked for about a year, always trying to simplify. The flame itself is different: not blue, as often happens, but yellow and alive – recalling natural fire, closer to the original idea of warmth and sharing.
The Olympic torch has involved many prominent designers over the years – Nervi among them. Is there one torch from past Games you feel particularly close to?
Perhaps the one designed by Sori Yanagi for Tokyo 1964 and Sapporo 1972. It was sober and precise, free of rhetoric. It spoke with very little, yet clearly. We, too, sought a form that works not by addition, but by subtraction.
Did the design process generate ideas that might be applied elsewhere?
I believe so. The guiding principle was to remove rather than add. Not to multiply functions, but to lighten. This applies to other projects as well: sustainability begins with using fewer materials.
Design has become far more “pop” in recent years than at any other point in its history. Why do you think public attention has grown? Has the audience matured? If so, how?
Perhaps thanks to a growing visual culture, also fostered online – Instagram, emoji, and so on. There is also greater interest in innovation. Today, design is recognized even in technical details. In the torch, for example, we worked on airflow to stabilize the flame in motion. A functional choice that also shapes aesthetics. These are aspects one may not notice immediately, but a careful observer will. And it is heartening to see the public increasingly ready to do so.
Finally, in which areas does humanity most need design today – and why?
Today we need design that helps us adapt: to climate change, but also to social and demographic shifts. We must learn to live with new and often unpredictable conditions. Design can help us face them intelligently. It is a theme we have also explored at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which I had the honour to curate under the title Intelligens. Natural, Artificial, Collective.
