Earthen Rituals fuses AI-driven design with traditional materials rooted in embodied human histories. By translating earthen textures into code, the project creates 3D-printed earth-fiber tiles from construction waste and agricultural by-products. The mix blends vernacular wisdom from global earth-building traditions with cutting-edge material science. The installation, shaped by techniques like rammed earth, weaving, and basketry, creates sensory spaces for material rituals. As a space for contemplation, Earthen Rituals confronts extractive practices, colonial legacies, and climate crises, and proposes radical, ceremonial approaches that embrace the variable qualities of raw materials.
Participants
LOLA BEN-ALON, Jerusalem, Israel, 1985. Lives and works in New York, USA.
THE NATURAL MATERIALS LAB, COLUMBIA GSAPP NEW YORK, USA
Technical collaborators
WASP
Team
Olga Beatrice Carcassi, Natural Materials Lab (Associate Research Scientist); Penmai Chongtoua, Natural Materials Lab (Adjunct Research Scientist); Keenan Bellisari, Christopher Tillinghast Sherman, Trella Isabel Lopez, Kelechi Iheanacho, Neil Potnis, Sherry Aine Chuang Te, Nikoletta Zakynthinou Xanthi, Amani Makee Hill (Natural Materials Lab Graduate Assistants)
Thanks
Léonard Roussel (Audio Visual Support); James Nanasca and Yonah Elorza, Columbia University GSAPP Making Studio (Facilities); Wil Srubar and Shiho Kawashima (USA NSF Research Co-PIs); Francesca Moretti, Massimo Moretti, and Giulio Buscaroli, WASP 3D Printers, Italy (Technical Collaboration and 3D Printing); Alessandro Terranova and Alessandro Cecchini, Yacademy, Italy (Documentation and Photography); Andres Jaque, Columbia University GSAPP (Academic and administrative Support)
Supporters
Columbia University, GSAPP; NSF FMRG Award number #2134488: “Eco: Process-Structure-Property Relationships of 3D Printed Earth Materials and Structures” (PI: Lola Ben-Alon)
