Our project merges contemporary digital practice with an ecological ambition, demonstrating
that the two are powerfully commensurate. The METROPOLIS booth for ICFF is a living showcase of form, function and sustainability. Our aim with this proposal is to render evident emergent, ecologically progressive materials and methods in a unique and imaginative display, through a wide array of technological advances. The goal of our collaboration is to take on this global social imperative—in earnest, and in style. Here’s how:
The light-weight monolithic skeletal structure of the METROPOLIS booth is framed in an egg-crate assembly of interlocking water-jet cut recycled/recyclable white plastic fins. Unlike recent projects that employ similar CNC technology and interlocking grids, in our proposal, no two cells are the same. Cell size and shape are dependent on location and function. A new 100% recycled white polyethylene sheet material that is replacing PVC in green buildings (UHMWPE) will be cut by a water jet to create a series of thin and flexible curving fins, that when assembled, produce the rigid single-body chassis of the METROPOLIS booth.
The METROPOLIS booth exterior’s “living carpet” of brilliantly colored vegetation invites visitors to enter under a massive arc of flowering plants and wild grasses into a comfortable conversation zone lined with METROPOLIS magazines and related materials.
The space accommodates several people seated in groups of two or three along an undulating bench padded in recycled cotton denim insulation by UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber. The same light blue recycled denim in a raw, loose format fills the cellular floor pattern, topped with an Ecoresin™ walking surface by 3form®. Overhead, pockets holding hundreds of METROPOLIS magazines are within reach. Display space for the “Next Generation® Design Competition”.
projects are positioned just over the back of the bench. The METROPOLIS magazine “wave” interior culminates in a giant LED lamp, a flowering bulb form that will illuminate the entire space.