agrAir
Milano Design Week 2018
Drawing on the past to define the lifestyles of the future: this is the mission of agrAir by Piuarch, which expresses at Inhabits event (piazza Castello, Milan) the values of tomorrow’s living spaces – lightness, brightness, careful use of resources, eliminating the boundaries between interior and exteriors, between natural and artificial spaces – in a balanced relationship between the elements of earth and air.
The narration of these values has been developed using an installation running along two parallel levels, with continuous connections between them. The lower section, at ground level, consists of a large expanded clay footboard almost entirely covered by herbs, based on predefined composition patterns by the landscape designer Cornelius Gavril. The image is that of a botanic garden, enriched by colorful flowers and perfumes, to be admired and touched: a fragment aimed at restoring biodiversity and the concept of agriculture in the heart of the city.
Parallel to the green basement, a multitude of transparent inflatables dances gently, following the movement of the air. It is a cloud of prism-shaped balloons: their reflections change colour in daytime, when the April light enhances the feeling of the fist days of spring weather; at night, artificial lighting further accentuates their evanescent character and turns them info fluctuating lanterns.
Between the two horizontal layers some connections are drawn: the rods are used as support for creepers reaching to the balloons, marking the indissoluble link between natural and artificial. With its set of reflections, gentle movements, lights and shadows, fragrances and colours, agrAir produces a space with impalpable contours, an urban regeneration programme to promote the celebratory and optimistic approach at Fuorisalone.
