Aurora, an architectural installation designed by Mamou-Mani in partnership with French design software brand Dassault Systèmes, will occupy the atrium of the Design Museum in London until 14 November.

The project coincides with the opening of Waste Age: What can design do?, an exhibition at the Design Museum that explores the relationship between waste and design.

As part of its Design for Life programme, Dassault Systèmes embarked on a collaboration with Mamou-Mani to explore circular architecture and demonstrate how 3D-printable materials can be printed into structures that can be recycled or repurposed.

The Aurora installation demonstrates the findings of the research project, featuring a structure comprised of 3D-printed modules that are printed, broken down and re-printed on site.

“Waste is a strange concept, it means that there is something that ends and is useless,” Mamou-Mani explained in an exclusive video interview shot by Dezeen at the Design Museum.

“Aurora is using bioplastic made from fermented sugar called PLA,” he said. “It’s about 80 per cent more efficient than petroleum-based plastic. We’re trying to show the full lifecycle of materials from where they come from, to where they go.”

Visitors to the Design Museum will encounter Aurora on their way to the Waste Age exhibition, which explores design’s contribution to waste and how the industry can help to create an alternative circular economy that doesn’t exploit the planet.

“Waste Age is an exhibition about one of the great materials of our time: waste,” said the exhibition’s curator Justin McGuirk.

“We produce so much of it, and this is an exhibition about how we turn that around. Design has done a great deal to produce waste over the last century, and design is going to be crucial to reducing it.”

The collaboration between Mamou-Mani and Dassault Systèmes is part of the French software company’s Design for Life programme, in which it partners with leading architects and designers to address global issues.

“Aurora is tackling the huge challenges of our times that are really systemic,” said Anne Asensio, vice president of design experience at Dassault Systèmes. “They are very complex, and they cannot be resolved with just one person.”

“Design for Life is a program we offer to any architects and designers to collaborate with our expertise,” she explained. “So it’s a very broad approach of design. And it’s what we need to actually tackle those challenges.”

Comparing the #carbonfootprint of our #Aurora installation in #bioplastic vs #petroplastic:

AURORA IN PLA: 2333.89kgCO2
AURORA IN ABS: 8890.42kgCO2

That’s 6 tonnes of #carbon saved, the equivalent of building 10 electric bikes.