An installation within the GARDENING WILL SAVE THE WORLD - IKEA & TOM DIXON pavilion for the 2019 RHS Royal Chelsea Flower Show.

‘Terrestrial Reef‘ is a 21st century techno-organic garden of natural and synthetic elements, i.e. soil, fungi and robots. The project, a 3d printed hybrid-garden, has multiple interests, in one side reflects on the often troubled, incompatible, even oppressive binary relationship of the built environment with the natural environment as defined by western modernity; in the other propose an alternative to the current cultural associations to nature as “green”. What at are the implications and opportunities in decision making when landscapes and gardens are shaped by Ai strategies and machines? What aesthetic paradigms would it develop for a hybrid ecosystem of natural and artificial symbionts?.

Precedents “ The Pahoehoe beauty”:

Terrestrial Reef comes from the conceptual framework developed for the “Pahohoe Beauty” , immersive installation presented in 2018 for the Ars Electronica festival in Linz. (more info about the project here: http://www.exparch.at/ , http://www.maeid.com). Project where the fusion of technology and landscape allows the audience to grasp the deeper spatial experience of hybrid artifacts and the vision of conceiving architecture as a cultural catalyst.