Described as “the most anticipated and talked about exhibit of 2019” by Elle Decor Magazine, Broken Nature – Design Takes on Human Survival at the Milan Triennal Museum, Italy is curated by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design and Director of the Research and Development Department at MoMA New York.
Part of the US Pavilion at the 2019 International Milan Triennial, the RECKONstruct exhibition tells the story of how a revolution in innovative design and new materials is dramatically remaking the built environment in response to mitigate waste and environmental pollution.
Using a combination of immersive media and physical displays, the exhibition documents how New York-based furniture company Humanscale reimagined a simple stool through three different approaches to sustainability—using naturally grown materials (bio-fabrication), harvesting unused waste (closed loop), and mimicking nature’s engineering solutions (biomimicry).
A centerpiece of the RECKONstruct exhibiton is an immersive film by Pacific Virtual Reality together with global engineering firm Arup’s Los Angeles team.
Working with the Arup curating team in Los Angeles, Camilla Andersson and Anders Hjemdahl of Pacific VR created an immersive ultra-wide angle film in English and Italian which was projected on three contiguous walls at the exhibition, RECKONstruct logotypes, social media content, a trailer video, and conceptual, script, and technical consultancy.
In the film, the impact of the stools are brought to life through animations, MIT-researched facts, surround sound and 360-degree scenes from locations including the Los Angeles harbor, a rock quarry in Kansas, a Pacific coastal oak forest, a southern California reclamation yard, the Humanscale factory in New York City a landfill in southern Russia, and a California beach.
RECKONstruct invites you to immerse yourself in this new economy, experiencing its activities in spatial, audial, and temporal terms, exposing the hidden realities of the material life cycle as a call to both collective and individual action.
The RECKONstruct experience is featured at the Palazzo dell’Arte in Milan, Italy from March 1 to September 1, 2019.
“RECKONstruct gives us elegant and tangible examples of how design that is conscientious of the lifecycle burdens of materials can bring forth better products to the spaces in which we spend our lives.”
PROJECT PARTNERS
FULL CREDITS
RECKONstruct Exhibition and Film
United States pavilion at the XXII Triennale in Milan, Italy
Commissioner
Gregory Norris, SHINE@MIT
Chief Curator
Russell Fortmeyer, Arup
Curators
Jane Abernethy, Humanscale
Mesve Vardar, Humanscale
Frances Yang, Arup
Exhibition Design
Paul Chavez, Arup
Ashley Hastings, Arup
Matthew Wilkinson, Arup
Film Production
Camilla Andersson, Pacific VR
Anders Hjemdahl, Pacific VR
Project Activation
Chris Abbate, Novità
Danielle McWilliams, Novità
Barbara Musso, Novità
Tina Brennan, Humanscale
Ross Bergman, Humanscale
Film Post-production
Camilla Andersson, Pacific VR
Anders Hjemdahl, Pacific VR
Joey Panlertkitsakul, Arup
Graphic Design
Camilla Andersson, Pacific VR
Camera Operation and Photography
Joey Panlertkitsakul, Arup
Brendan Smith, Arup
Camilla Andersson, Pacific VR
3D Animation
Ashley Hastings, Arup
Sound Design and Composition
Brendan Smith, Arup
Sound Mix
Mathew Wilkinson, Arup
Music Recorded at
Brady Street Recordings
Digital Media Technical Advisor
Anders Hjemdahl, Pacific Virtual Reality
Cinematography Technical Advisor
Camilla Andersson, Pacific Virtual Reality
Electrical Design
Nicola Carofano, Arup
Research
Maria Aiolova, Arup
Sara Tepfer, Arup
Public Relations
Katie Bone, Novità
Jackie Wei-Green, Arup
Finance
Grace Mungcal, Arup
Cindy Liu, Arup
Daniela Casarola, Arup
Supporting Technical Organizations
International Living Future Institute
Lonely Whale
Biomimicry Institute
Chrysalis Strategies
Modern Meadow
Cradle-to-Cradle Product Innovation Institute
Ecovative
UBQ Materials
American Institute of Architects
U.S. Green Building Council
Carbon Leadership Forum
Ecological Building Network
Health Product Declaration Collaborative
Mindful Materials
NeoCon
Pacific VR
Filming Locations
Santa Monica Mountains State Park, California
Bergcamp Quarries, Kansas
Port of Long Beach, California
Humanscale, New Jersey
Southern California Institute of Architecture
IRS Demo, California
Will Rogers State Beach, California
Appreciation
Russell Greenberg, Stickbulb
Shaina Saporta, Arup
GTE Contractors
Studio 80
ABC Printing
Arup Milan
Biagio Adamo