Squint/Opera has been collaborating with Italian architecture practice Carlo Ratti Associates for over a decade. We're always excited to communicate their innovative projects and technology-driven visions for the future of cities. When they approached us asking for our help on CURA we jumped at the chance. 

 

CURA, which stands for Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments, (and also “cure” in Latin), uses repurposed shipping containers to create plug-in Intensive-Care Unit pods. The units would be as fast to mount as a hospital tent, but as safe as an isolation ward, due to their biocontainment properties. They aim to improve the efficiency of existing solutions in the design of field hospitals, tailoring them to the current pandemic. 

 

Since the pandemic started, hospitals have been working tirelessly to increase their ICU capacity. CURA pods were conceived as a ready-to-use solution. As shipping containers can easily be moved across different modes of transport - from ship to rail to truck - and re-used in different parts of the world, adapting to the needs and capacity of the local healthcare infrastructure. 

 

The design is being developed in an open-source mode to help streamline the capacity to build. We were part of the early contributors, which included an international task force of designers, engineers, medical professionals, and military experts, who joined together to help launch the project as quickly as possible.

 

When we joined the CURA project, the timing coincided with the first day that our entire London and New York studios were working from home. This provided an urgent opportunity to put our remote working to the test. We managed to pull together and collaborate remotely, both internally and with the team at Carlo Ratti Associates, delivering both an animated film and a website in just two days. Solutions like CURA show what can be achieved when designers, engineers, health professionals and experts work together towards solutions. It’s has been great to be able to apply our expertise to such a worthy cause. As digital media partners, Squint/Opera is helping to enable spread the mission and purpose of CURA, and we hope that it will continue to reach far and wide to receive the support it needs to make a difference. 

 

Currently, the first unit has been sponsored by UniCredit and is being built for testing at a hospital in Milan, Italy. As the project progresses, we hope to be able to help hospitals understand how the pods may be configured spatially on their sites. Using digital media and visualisation technology, such as 3d modelling and VR, we can help decision-makers and designers make crucial decisions faster and more efficiently. Being able to communicate and collaborate with utmost efficiency is crucial in beating this viral pandemic. 

 

Squint/Opera is a digital design studio and consultancy. We work with ambitious partners to execute big ideas that make a positive impact on the world’s destinations, spaces and cities. We help to turn complex concepts into beautiful, playful and emotive stories.

View an interview between NLA curator-in-chief Peter Murray and Carlo Ratti here.