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COS x Mamou-Mani’s Conifera Installation Bridges the Worlds of Nature, Architecture and Technology

04.16.19 | By
COS x Mamou-Mani’s Conifera Installation Bridges the Worlds of Nature, Architecture and Technology

Every year we get excited to see who COS has tapped to create yet another extraordinary installation to be unveiled at Salone del Mobile in Milan, and this year was no exception. For the eighth consecutive year, COS demonstrated its commitment to the art and design worlds, luring Milan Design Week attendees to its public installation, this time designed by architect Arthur Mamou-Mani and his eponymous studio. Situated inside the Palazzo Isimbardi, “Conifera” was a 3D printed structure made from 700 interlocking modular bio-bricks that gradually changed from a wood + bioplastic composite that started inside the courtyard to a translucent + white bioplastic that extended into the surrounding garden.

WATCH:

Conifera was constructed using Delta WASP (World Advance Saving Project) 3MT Industrial 3D printers and Mamou-Mani’s open-source software that creates parametric design. The translucent bio-bricks are made of pure PLA, the white bio-bricks have an added pigment, and the brown bio-bricks have added wood pulp. On site, visitors could see for themselves one of the 3D printers in action.

Without a doubt, the complex lattice installation makes for a visually unforgettable photo (as captured by attendees here) but it is also elicits a thought-provoking and expressive experience. Mamou-Mani transports attendees from a natural world to a digitally man-made world, one that bridges together nature, architecture, and technology, and explores the possibilities of the future using 3D printing and sustainable/renewable materials.

He states:

Conifera blends the digital with the physical world while addressing sustainability through the use of compostable bio-plastic, produced and 3D printed locally. It is a dialogue between technology and craft, between the manmade and the nature and between monumentality and lightness. I hope the visitors will appreciate the futuristic high-tech aspect of the installation but also that is deeply poetic and human.

COS Creative Director Karin Gustafsson with architect Arthur Mamou-Mani; image courtesy of COS by Mark Cocksedge

As the Senior Contributing Editor, Vy Yang is obsessed with discovering ways to live well + with intention through design. She's probably sharing what she finds over on Instagram stories. You can also find her at vytranyang.com.