During this years Salone del Mobile, COS has recently unveiled >>Conifera<<, a large-scale 3D printed architectural installation made from renewable resources by London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani.
Digitally designed and fabricated using innovative 3D printing methods, Conifera is comprised of seven hundred interlocking modular bio-bricks, creating a sculptural pathway of wood and bioplastic composite lattices, woven together to create a journey from the central courtyard of Palazzo Isimbardi to its garden.
As visitors journey through the installation, the architecture of the installation shifts from a wood and bioplastic composite in the courtyard to a translucent and white bioplastic foundwithin the palazzo’s garden, communicating a digitally fabricated bridge between themanmade and the natural world.
Conifera has been conceived in response to an open brief from COS, with the final structure a result of a parametric design process that has seen the installation evolve with each new technological and material innovation throughout its conception. The piece vertically integrates design and construction, forming a direct connection from design to build through a dialogue with robotics: the architect is at once designer and maker. Conifera’smodular form offers a legacy for the installation, with the piece able to be reformed in alternate configurations and in response to new contexts.
Visitors to Palazzo Isimbardi will be able to observe one of the Delta WASP (World Advance Saving Project) 3MT Industrial 3D printers used to fabricate each of the 700 bio-bricks that comprise the installation in action. The installation marks COS’s eighth consecutive installation during Salone del Mobile and itsfirst collaboration with Mamou-Mani.