White Utopia: Transforming Domestic Living Through Fluid Architecture and Bio-based Materials.

Natural Material Studio recently unveiled “White Utopia” at Copenhagen’s 2024 edition of 3daysofdesign. This conceptual installation reimagined domestic living through the studio’s philosophy of “fluidity,” presented in a full-size house and its interior. In the dynamic design district of Refshaleøen, “White Utopia” responded to the event’s theme “Dare to Dream” by challenging traditional design norms and exploring the fluid nature of materials and living spaces.

The installation featured the Copenhagen studio’s signature bio-based materials, including bio-textiles and bio-foams, which form the walls, furniture, and various structural elements. These materials, made using Natural Material Studio’s unique Procel casting technique, are not only sustainable but also alive, responding to their environment. The translucent bio-textiles act as offset walls, creating a surreal, interactive experience that blurs the lines between architecture and nature.

Founder and Creative Director Bonnie Hvillum explains, “As a utopian parallel place cut off and protected from an unsecure world, we tend to create a controllable microcosm with the home, which results in a static relation to design. Using our own bio-materials, the installation seeks to expand design as a strategy for transformation towards a fluid world.” This vision underscores the project’s aim to redefine our relationship with domestic spaces, making them more dynamic and responsive to the changing world.

Community and Comfort Come Together in This Hybrid Workspace by House of Grey.

This warm and nurturing workplace in London’s Shoreditch bridges the gap between home and work, offering the comfort of a living space matched with the creative stimulation people hope to find in a workplace.

The monochrome quality of “White Utopia” is both a design choice and a conceptual focal point. Traditionally associated with purity and cleanliness, white is reinterpreted here to highlight the complexity and fluidity of nature. The installation contrasts the perceived sterility of white with the organic, ever-changing nature of the bio-materials. Hvillum cites James Fox, author of “The World According to Colour,” noting, “If white was ever pure, it surely isn’t any more. Over the last five centuries, western thinkers have filled this supposedly empty colour with so much aesthetic, scientific, social and racial meaning as to transform it into an ideology.”

“White Utopia” also challenges the funkis aesthetic of modernist architecture by breaking up minimalist, cubist lines with organic, flexible bio-textiles. These materials create depth and dimension, questioning traditional views of architecture as fixed and unchangeable. By embracing a more temporary, organic understanding of space, the installation encourages us to reconsider our place in the world and our relationship with nature.

Yuma Kano Transforms Forrest Debris into a Sustainable New Material.

Tokyo-based Yuma Kano has developed a unique and innovative material that looks to find new value in our forests. Yuma repurposes twigs, leaves, and branches, bound by a water-based acrylic resin, transforming them into a new timber-terrazzo.

[Images courtesy of Natural Material Studio. Photography by Peter Vinther.]