Ma Yansong, Carlo Ratti, and Stefano Boeri discuss architecture as dream projection at Milan Design Week 2026

During Milan Design Week 2026, architects Ma Yansong, Carlo Ratti, and Stefano Boeri shared a stage for the first time at designboom's ROOM FOR DREAMS event, moderated by managing editor Claire Brodka. The panel reframed architecture as a proactive, predictive force that designs the future before it arrives. Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT, argued for data-driven dreaming where buildings learn and evolve through feedback loops. Yansong, principal of MAD Architects and guest editor of Domus 2026, emphasized buildings as vessels for human spirit and emotional history. Boeri, founder of Stefano Boeri Architetti, focused on ecological necessity, advocating for total urban reforestation and treating non-human entities as design stakeholders. The discussion covered material agency, with Yansong proposing that materials have an inherent desire to return to organic forms. Ratti introduced the concept of 'polyamory' in home design, integrating nature and bacteria into habitats. The architects agreed that the 'Master Architect' must become a 'Facilitator of Ecosystems,' aligning human dreams with biological reality.