Among the more recent urban interventions deserve attention Snøhetta’s Vulkan Beehive, two beehives – inspired by the natural honeycomb geometry – to bring more bees to the city and create involvement around this important food suppliers; and the work by Luzinterruptus, who presented at the Katowice Street Art Festival Labyrinth of plastic waste, 26 meters of transitable plastic waste to demonstrate the amount of plastic daily consumed.
I Am Recycled, by PKMN [pacman] Architectures, extends the life span of an industrial building sector in Arrasate (Basque Country, Spain), to be used as a recycling center, reuse workshop and second hand products sale, while with Urban Algae Canopy ecoLogicStudio prefigures the world’s first bio-digital canopy integrating micro-algal cultures and real time digital cultivation protocols on an architectural system. The vision is part of the Future Food District project, curated by Carlo Ratti Associati at the central crossroads of the EXPO site.
Recycling is one of the keys to understanding the work of Ousmane MBaye – who, for 15 years, repaired fridges in Dakar, Senegal, until he made a chair out of recycled steel, the first of a series of furniture made of steel and recycled oil drums – and the key-theme of Kawara, a series of stools and benches made with discarded Japanese roof tiles mounted inside a wooden structure designed by Eindhoven designer Tsuyoshi Hayashi. To this theme is devoted also the Bitrot project by the Italian photographer Valentino Bellini that investigates the real world of the disposal of the increasing e-waste.
Even the art world reflects on the theme of sustainability, with a series of actions dedicated to green: Transplantation, by German artist Uli Westphal, transformed Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam into a greenhouse, where over sixty remarkable tomato varieties are cultivated; and “Vegetation as a Political Agent” – hosted by PAV – Parco Arte Vivente in Turin – that describes, from the point of view of social conflict, the deep, passionately-committed and demanding relationship that has always existed between man and plants.
Best of #Green:
– Vulkan Beehive
– Labyrinth of plastic waste
– PKMN: I Am Recycled
– Urban Algae Canopy
– Shifting borders
– Jonas Edvard: MYX lamp
– Bio-Photovoltaic panel
– From fridges to furniture
– Tsuyoshi Hayashi: Kawara
– The Bitrot project
– Transplantation
– Vegetation and politics