Flesh Cultures investigates our relationships with familiar objects and how we disrupt or alter those connections, extending into the cumulative design construct of a synthetic meat production lab and factory within the borghi. Our aim is to question and challenge the way that meat, a staple within the human diet, is presented and cultivated via the introduction of autonomous technologies and innovative farm to plate technique - an abjection to what we find familiar with a promising alternative.
We started this conversation with our initial research by constructing our iterative object as an augmentation of a typical flower’s physical structures and textural qualities - awkward in its lopsided form yet familiar in its individual parts rather than a whole. On a slightly larger scale, the scene of the still life plays with objects varying in legibility due to differing degrees of material resolution and spatial hierarchy.
The geometry within the massing is also evident in the site’s application, looking at how the tiering of the site is radial in comparison. There are walkways that navigate the pedestrian throughout, being able to access the soybean garden plots dispersed around (also irrigated by the water passing through) and the outdoor pet therapy - in order to reestablish our relationships with nature independently
The interior sequencing of the massing allows visitors to examine the assembly line development in its most interesting moments, being the lab production and research space and the exhibition showcasing the curation of synthetic meats. From their standpoints on the upper floors, visitors can see the physical timeline of a duplicate meat cell’s life from the petri dish to how it develops into a cured larger flank. These processes are supported by an archival unit, a test kitchen, storage and machine maintenance for the autonomous systems.
In the face of a constantly changing time, technology aiding in synthetic alternatives can allow us to be more independent with providing ourselves options for the future and help us reevaluate our connections with natural dying resources.
