"Right now, as the 2026 Winter Olympics torch relay makes its final journey through Milan toward tonight's opening ceremony at San Siro Stadium, Carlo Ratti's design is doing something revolutionary. It's getting out of its own way. The MIT professor and architect didn't set out to create another sculptural showpiece when he designed the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic torch. Instead, he asked a question that probably should have been asked decades ago: what if the torch wasn't the star of the show?"
"The result is something Ratti calls "Essential," a name that feels like a manifesto. He designed the torch from the inside out, treating the flame itself as the architecture. The metal cylinder becomes a frame, almost a supporting actor, letting fire take center stage. It's counterintuitive in a design culture that often mistakes complexity for sophistication. Designer: Carlo Ratti But the torch is only half the story."
During the final relay through Milan toward the San Siro opening ceremony, the Milano Cortina 2026 torch rethinks priority by letting the flame lead. The torch's metal cylinder functions as a minimal frame, designed from the inside out so the flame reads as architecture rather than an ornament. A mobile transparent cauldron travels alongside to keep the flame alive between legs, transforming the fire into a vertical vortex that appears to float. The cauldron's circular base uses the same blue-green PVD finish as the torch to create visual continuity and to hold the fire safely as a temporary, watchable altar.
Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News
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