Lola Ben-Alon
The Natural Materials Lab

Earthen Rituals explores the intersection of artificial design prompts with traditional materials rooted in embodied human histories.

The installation design is facilitated through an artificial intelligence methodology, where traditional earthen construction textures and typologies are translated into code language to generate graphic textures. The textures are then 3D printed using an earth-fiber mix design that fuses construction excavation waste with agricultural by-products.

At the center of the installation is a floor projection—a circular methodology of making and remaking—that echoes the ritualistic processes developed at the Natural Materials Lab at Columbia GSAPP.

The facade of the structure introduces a light earthy scent, similar to the sensation experienced when walking in the woods.

Earthen Rituals demonstrates a radically circular, hands-on, and devotional approach to design, construction, operations, and afterlife. The installation uses zero glue and zero plastics. Instead, it utilizes raw, naturally-driven materials—earth, fiber, wood, bamboo—all of which sequester carbon through biogenic processes. The project ensures easy dry deconstruction for 100% recycling or reuse, using non-toxic and non-hazardous materials.

The ritualistic and ceremonial avenues created by this project highlight the need for spaces that incorporate fused approaches to the human hand, tools, and machines; radical approaches to raw materials that are messy, porous, and extremely variable; and devotional approaches that merge design with fundamental scientific rigor.

This project is currently on view at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective, curated by Carlo Ratti.

Participants:

Lola Ben-Alon
The Natural Materials Lab, Columbia GSAPP, New York, USA

Technical Collaborators:

WASP 3D Printers, Italy

Team Members:

Olga Beatrice Carcassi - Associate Research Scientist, The Natural Materials Lab, Columbia GSAPP
Penmai Chongtoua - Adjunct Research Scientist, The Natural Materials Lab, Columbia GSAPP
Natural Materials Lab Graduate Assistants - Keenan Bellisari, Christopher Tillinghast Sherman, Trella Isabel Lopez, Kelechi Iheanacho, Neil Potnis, Sherry Aine Chuang Te, Nikoletta Zakynthinou Xanthi, Amani Makee Hill.

Thanks to:

Léonard Roussel (Audio Visual Support)
James Nanasca and Yonah Elorza, Columbia GSAPP Making Studio (Facilities)
Wil Srubar and Shiho Kawashima (USA NSF Research Co-PIs)
Francesca Moretti, Massimo Moretti, Marco Ferretti, Federico Monterumisi, and Giulio Buscaroli, WASP 3D Printers, Italy (Technical Collaboration and 3D Printing)
Aléssandro Terranova and Alessandro Cecchini, Yacademy, Italy (Documentation and Photography)
Andres Jaque, Columbia GSAPP (Academic and administrative Support)

Supporters:

Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation
NSF FMRG Award number # 2134488: "Eco: Process-Structure-Property Relationships of 3D Printed Earth Materials and Structures" (PI: Lola Ben-Alon)