How to Grow Fresh Air, 2009 | PVC pipe, plastic copolymer fabric, air-purifying plants – 12 x 11 feet
LAB-09 | LULEÅ, SWEDEN
This piece responds to the issue of environmental risk, particularly disaster preparedness.
The dome is an innately sturdy structure, able to withstand natural stresses of many kinds. It also refers to the work of architect Buckminster Fuller, who saw it as a key to rethinking housing and a restructured way of life.
In addition, the promise of a contained habitat draws from the work of Biosphere 2, the sealed capsule environment in the Arizona desert where biological life support experiments were staged in the early 1990s.
The plants housed within the dome allude to the idea that the natural world provides keys to many modern dilemmas and likewise, each specimen is good at removing a particular chemical from the air. Examples include benzene and formaldehyde. The latter made news as the toxin found in the trailers provided to victims of Hurricane Katrina.