ISLANDS - RAMMED EARTH PLINTHS at The Design Museum, London

Islands – an exhibition from the London Design Museum’s Future Observatory Design Researchers in Residence programme – addresses the waste often associated with temporary exhibitions. The 3D design of the exhibition was developed by MSOMA Architects focussing on the use of naturally biodegradable materials instead of painted MDF plinths and single-use vitrines for the display.

Its primary material of rammed earth is used in varying configurations with hemp surfaces and constructed using low-tech processes. The environmentally minded design reflects the curatorial framework, which sees each of the programme’s four design researchers in residence explore issues relating to the climate crisis.

121 Collective was commissioned to develop and fabricate the unstabilised rammed earth plinths, made only from natural and locally sourced London clay and aggregate from crushed waste brick. Since the show ended in October 2023, the materials were relocated back to 121 Collective’s headquarters and community workshop at the Tolworth Main Allotments to be reused and for the remainder of the materials to return naturally back to the earth from which they came.

Design Researches: Rhiarna Dhaliwal, Marianna Janowicz, Isabel Lea, James Peplow Powell

Photographs credit to Speller Studio