As part of Milan Design Week 2019, architect Arthur Mamou-Mani in collaboration with fashion brand COS has created a 3D printed installation called Conifera that is made from 700 bio-bricks.
Mixing a starch vinegar and glycerine derived compostable bioplastic called polylactic acid (PLA) with wood pulp to create the base material, the interlocking and modular bio-bricks were 3D printed and assembled together to form the site-specific installation at Milan’s historical Palazzo Isimbardi.
With the bio-bricks 3D printed as structural lattices in shades of white and brown, this allows light to permeate through the installation.
“We liked the idea of creating with new materials,” said COS creative director Karin Gustafsson. “At COS, we constantly challenge ourselves creatively. We’re into materials and how they perform, as well as new ways of making. The process informs the end result.”
“Conifera offers a glimpse of the future, the potential of design and the possibilities which open up through collaboration,” added Gustafsson. “The installation has grown from the seed of an idea and has been shaped by Mamou-Mani’s creativity, the expanding horizons of technology and our shared focus on material innovation and craftsmanship. The final piece brings together so many influences reflective of our values and our focus on pushing the boundaries of design while maintaining a careful balance of the man-made and the natural.”
Mamou-Mani states that the installation takes inspiration from the architecture of Palazzo Isimbardi and the pine cones of Conifer trees.
“Everything has this rectilinearity and there is also a striking contrast with nature,” said Mamou-Mani. “The COS project is very constrained by its site– you don’t often get that in parametric design.”
“The geometry of Conifera comes from the square motif which is very present at Palazzo Isimbardi, through the courtyard to the tiles,” explained Mamou-Mani. “I wanted the piece to echo the circular nature of the compostable material and create a journey from architecture to nature in order to showcase how renewable materials, coupled with an algorithmic approach and distributed 3D printing, can create the building blocks of the future”.
“You have gradients of colour. We’re not obsessed with a uniform finish,’ said Mamou-Mani. “Karin introduced me to the philosophy of wabi-sabi – the acceptance of imperfection. It’s almost meditative.”
The installation is set to be relocated to London and exhibited at the Coal Drops Yard once Milan Design Week has concluded.
“I love the idea that a building can be reused or can regrow,” noted Mamou-Mani. “I think that is also something that could help the planet, if we stop thinking of finished buildings, but things that can be stacked and unstacked.”
“The piece can be reimagined and reused – it’s something that won’t stop with Salone,” added Gustafsson. “It’s like how we don’t dictate how our clothes are worn. We think of them as components that can go into a wardrobe in many different ways.”
