A team of Italian architects and a building supplier have created a building with the form and function of forests in mind. The result is the stunning Palazzo Italia, completed earlier this year for the Expo Milano 2015.
Nemesi Studio, a Rome-based architectural firm, designed the exterior to conjure up images of dense forests, thick with limbs and leaves. Wired UK reports that each of the 700 panels was designed using 3D software and consists of four layers.
Here’s where this engineering gets interesting: The panels are created out of a new type of biodynamic cement by Italcementi Group called i.active BIODYNAMIC.
The concrete can filter some pollutants from the air and convert them to inert salts, which could make a huge impact if the material is widely used.
“If you have a big city that has 15 percent of its surfaces covered by this product you can release the pollution by about 50 percent,” Italcementi’s research director Enrico Borgarello told Wired UK.
The material consists of 80 percent recycled materials, including scraps of Carrara marble — which is what gives the final product a brilliant white appearance.
Since the cement mix is less viscous than traditional cement, it could be poured into intricate molds to make the creative shapes that wrap the building.
After the expo, the building will become a technology innovation center.
Could this environmentally conscious innovation alter the future of construction? Comment below or tweet @MNetKatie.
