Case Study: Salone del Mobile Centerpiece

Challenge

Partner with world–renowned architects to construct Salone del Mobile's central space for congregation, exploration, and learning.

Solution

Multi–format data displays to provide structure for the entire experience and context for each component.

Services

Data visualization design; Brand identity design

Deliverables

Data art installation

Background & Process

The Salone del Mobile is an annual design and furniture fair held in Milan. It's the largest event of its kind in the world.

The 60th edition in 2022 was the first in two years due to the pandemic. For the centerpiece, MCA imagined a sweeping exhibition where guests could gather and contemplate how design could play a pivotal role in mitigating the environmental crisis.

MCA designers contacted Accurat to conceptualize and produce the centerpiece's primary modes of communication: two and three–dimensional displays accompanying a vast variety of objects and architectural installations. To capture attention amid the bustle of the fair, we relied on visual signals—specifically, a set of hand-drawn icons.

Outcome

Envisioned as both a verdant, piazza–like space and an immersive educational experience, Design With Nature's labyrinthine layout encouraged attendeees to take a self–guided tour through its ecosystem, comprising instllations made from materials like plastic bottles and polyurethene salvaged from footwear. Each display was accompanied by signage illustrating key facts, such as place of origin, relevant industries, makeup of recycled materials, and—conversely—recyclability.

Information was synthesized into unique data "portraits," which conveyed essential points to strolling visitors at a glance. Our original, illustrated taxonomy was ubiqutious throughout the exhibition—organizers even incorporated it into official branding.

In addition to the creation of informational panels, we oversaw the design and production of several three–dimensional installations.

A large–scale, circular timeline shows the evolution of sustainable thinking from 10,000 BCE to present day. Milestones in the history of design ranging from the building of Stonehenge to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater to the publication of The Architecture of Trees appear alongside—and often in contrast with—concurrent world events, including major conflicts and nuclear disasters. Constructed as a winding loop, the timeline is meant to be traversed, giving the effect of a journey through time.

Design With Nature's wraparound timeline.

Separately, we produced a data–driven "totem" stationed near the exhibition's entrance. Taking the form of a skyscraper, the installation illustrates the "anthropogenic mass," or weight of all human–made materials since 1900. A breakdown of these elements can be seen by horizontal delineations and differences in texture. Next to it, a shorter structure covered in greenery represents the weight of all dry life on earth. The difference in height casts into stark relief the scale of the environmental crisis, establishing from the centerpiece's outset our collective responsibility to learn and take action.

Left: Two sculptures, together showing the relative weight of human interference. Right: Detail of the data sculpture's material breakdown.

In total, the 60th Salone del Mobile saw 262,000 visitors from around the world. Design With Nature attracted guests with amenities including a restaurant, bar, bookstore, and ample seating for rest and conversation, all of which were created from sustainable materials (including orange and mango skin and fish scales).

Design With Nature was hotly anticipated and received organic press before and after the event, in outlets including ArchDaily↗, Wallpaper↗, and Architectural Digest↗.