“Habitat One: Sustainable Shelter” is the first solo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, by London-based studio
ecoLogicStudio . The installation invites visitors to experience the
possibilities of living in a carbon-neutral world , and is divided into three recent creations:
Tree One , a 3D-printed living photosynthetic sculpture; two visionary
AI videos; and the
urban Bio Lab . “Imagining a carbon-neutral city implies
completely redefining all our production, construction and waste recycling processes,” explains
Claudia Pasquero , co-founder of ecoLogicStudio with Marco Poletto. “It is not enough to consider the modernization of a contemporary city through the application of new green technologies, but we need to
imagine and visualize new
photosynthetic processes that will determine its future growth.”
On the façade of the Hyundai Motorstudio building in Seoul, a brand-new AI video that was developed and designed specifically for the show is projected. In its seemingly endless
loop , the video
simulates scenarios for Seoul’s evolution into a carbon-neutral city. In the video, the city grows through the
remetabolization of urban air pollution, waste, and CO2 storage . High-density metropolitan clusters are filled with
ski gardens ,
bio-buildings , and eventually lush
urban forests to evolve the new built landscapes.
Trees and buildings alternate—
literally evolving from one another —in the Tree One sculpture. This process is glimpsed in a second AI video projected inside the
foyer and facing the tree. Each architectural
cluster is depicted as growing from a
bundle of photosynthetic systems that drive self-sufficiency and the transformation of pollutants into material resources and nutritious food. At the center of the main exhibition floor is Tree One, the artificially intelligent, bio-digitally grown, carbon-capturing
living sculpture . The sculpture
remetabolizes and stores carbon molecules in its trunk and canopy while releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.
The sculpture integrates
40 glass photobioreactors that host
500 liters of living
Cyanidium algae cultures, which
can capture as much carbon dioxide as 12 large trees , the equivalent of a small urban forest. Tree One’s trunk is made from
algae-based biopolymers and its strength is inspired by the fibrous trunks of real trees. Its construction was made possible by a pioneering
robotic 3D printing process.
The store’s gallery is occupied by the Bio Lab, which showcases the
biodigital synthesis process of Tree One and the carbon-neutral city . Designed as an open laboratory, the Bio Lab showcases the proprietary biodesign innovation that was developed to create Tree One. It is the educational component of the exhibition, aiming to inspire visitors by showcasing the tangible research and innovation that ecoLogicStudio is currently undertaking to bring the sustainable design visions promoted by the exhibition to life.
