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Nataly Nemkova

Nataly Nemkova

Warsaw, PL

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Tallinn Architecture Biennale Pavilion Competition 2022

Nature Machine is an ongoing investigation on 'interspecies collaboration’ for the generation of soft megastructures, or how the collaboration between humans, robots and bio-organisms can change the world we live in. This proposal aims to create a functional and poetic public space for human and non-human agents to test a new life as a part of temporary architecture using local resources like agricultural fibres, timber and solar energy. The goal is to create an ecosystem, a living harmony, by generating a suitable growth environment inside an incubator and investigate robot and mycelium interaction where they adjust to each other.   In this project, the robot uses flax to direct mycelium and provide nutrients to it. It is one of the most sustainable natural fibres in the world with a high Co2 absorption level. Flax plants on one hectare absorb more than 3,7 metric tons of carbon dioxide and convert it into oxygen. It requires little water and no pesticides during the growing process. It creates geometrical possibilities together with mycelium and is easily recycled. Flax fibres have all the required nutrition for mycelium and can be easily manipulated by the robotic unit to create a wide set of living morphologies.    All physical projects start from materials being used and their carbon footprint, energy consumption, transportation and production method. It is time to re-evaluate how we use resources and how it affects the environment. With a focus on local opportunities, rethinking our material culture, learning how to interact with bio-organisms differently and introducing sensitive robotic fabrication methods we can improve urban metabolism. Using local timber, birch bark and flax is possible to create a space for future living that can be easily recycled or transformed when it is needed.   The TAB 2022 Installation aims to introduce a bioactive incubator with a functioning robotic unit as a part of the urban tissue and public space. It will consist of an atmospheric timber installation with a birch bark curtain, a robotic unit that will be depositing the structure during the biennale and active mycelium inside. It is a study about co-habitation across species, combining synthetic and natural aiming to create a poetic and functional pavilion.

 
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Status: Competition Entry
Location: Tallinn, EE
My Role: Idea and computation
Additional Credits: Katya Bryskina, Dmitry Morozov aka ::vtol::, Vlad Bek-Bulatov, visualisation: Znakvisual