Design is no longer static. It is no longer simply form, function, or aesthetic language. Today, design reacts, learns, anticipates. It breathes.

Over the past few years, we have witnessed a radical transformation in the way we imagine objects, spaces, and experiences. Artificial intelligence, immersive systems, robotics, and intelligent materials are not simply introducing new technologies: they are reshaping the very meaning of design itself.

Today, design is no longer only about the form of objects, but about the way they interact with people, data, environments, and behaviors. Design is evolving into dynamic systems capable of adapting, responding, and building new relationships with the contemporary world.

This is the reflection at the core of Sentient Horizons 2026 – Design Awakens, the international talk organized by Istituto Marangoni Milano Design, taking place on May 20 at Spazio Lenovo Milano.

More than a conversation about artificial intelligence, the event is conceived as a cultural discussion on the future of contemporary design and its evolution toward systems that are living, sensitive, narrative, and deeply interconnected.

Interpreting these scenarios will be three internationally renowned voices from different yet deeply connected fields: Carlo Ratti, Founding Partner of Carlo Ratti Associati, Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, Professor of Urban Technologies and Planning at MIT; Daan Roosegaarde, Artist, Innovator and Founder of Studio Roosegaarde; and Claudia Schnugg, Founding Curator of the Universe Pavilion, Curator and researcher in ArtScience collaborations. The talk will be moderated by journalist Laura Traldi.

Following previous editions dedicated to the convergence of creativity and emerging technologies, Sentient Horizons continues its research journey by exploring the transition from static design to a more dynamic form of design — one capable of learning, reacting, and creating new forms of relationship with the contemporary world.

Beyond technology

At the heart of Design Awakens is not technology itself, but the cultural transformation it is generating.

Contemporary design is going through a radical shift: objects are no longer merely functional or symbolic elements, but systems capable of adapting, anticipating, and producing new forms of interaction.

In this scenario, design becomes a hybrid territory where design culture, urbanism, philosophy, art, and scientific research converge. Technology ceases to be a simple tool and becomes an integral part of the experience, influencing the way we perceive spaces, time, and everyday relationships.

From static design to living design

According to the concept behind Sentient Horizons 2026, we are entering the “second history” of design. After a long phase dominated by static aesthetic languages, design is now evolving into dynamic, reactive, and constantly transforming systems.

Objects, environments, and images begin to behave like sensitive organisms: they perceive, react, and narrate. Aesthetics are no longer merely contemplative, but become active, relational, and at times autonomous.

Artificial intelligence, sentient materials, and immersive environments extend design into new experiential dimensions, where the relationship between humans and artificial systems becomes increasingly fluid. Design no longer defines only a form — it builds behaviors, connections, and possible scenarios.

Distributed intelligences

The awakening of design also reflects a broader transformation: the changing concept of intelligence itself.

Today, intelligence no longer belongs exclusively to humans, but emerges through networks, urban systems, machines, materials, and designed environments.

Within this new ecosystem, design becomes a tool through which knowledge, perception, and relational capabilities are distributed across physical and digital spaces. Design is no longer only about objects, but about the interactions between bodies, data, environments, and forms of shared cognition.

Three international visions in dialogue

Carlo Ratti

Architect, engineer, and Director of the MIT Senseable City Lab, Carlo Ratti has long explored the relationship between architecture, data, and urban technologies, imagining cities capable of responding to human behaviors and needs through intelligent and interactive systems.

Daan Roosegaarde

Artist and founder of Studio Roosegaarde, Daan Roosegaarde explores the relationship between technology, light, sustainability, and perception, transforming technological innovation into poetic and collective experiences.

Claudia Schnugg

Curator and ArtScience researcher, Claudia Schnugg develops projects that bring together art, science, and technology, questioning the role of new forms of intelligence within contemporary culture.

The discussion will be moderated by journalist Laura Traldi.

Design as a cultural discipline

With Sentient Horizons 2026, Istituto Marangoni Milano Design reaffirms its role as an international observatory on the future of design and the transformations redefining the relationship between creativity, technology, and society.

At a historical moment marked by the emergence of new forms of intelligence and the increasing interconnection between physical and digital systems, design ceases to be merely a project-based practice and becomes a critical tool for interpreting the present.

Because the real issue today is not simply artificial intelligence: it is the awakening of design itself.