KOOZ "Fungible Non Fungible" is the winning entry to the installation competition of this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale, how does the project respond to the Biennale's title "Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism"?

iheartblob Our pavilion is presenting a new decentralized and systematic approach towards architectural design, fabrication and funding in which the community are both the designers and the investors leading towards an emergent structure that evolves and grows over time.

KOOZ You talk about your project as the world’s first-ever blockchain-funded pavilion, could you expand on this assertion further?

iheartblob This pavilion is designed by the community through our online interactive platform. When a user is happy with their design, they ‘mint’ it as a Non Fungible Token (NFT) and the cost of that minting goes directly towards funding the physical component they designed, while they keep ownership over the digital 3D model. This is why the project is the first ever blockchain-funded architecture. It serves as an exploration for a new decentralized architectural design model, which can lead to works that are more reflective of community and environmental awareness. The outcomes are physical-digital hybrids that balance the ‘slower’ constantly evolving physical components with real time reactive digital updates.

KOOZ Rather than designing the pavilion, you have built an NFT-generative tool through which individuals can design and 'mint' - their own objects, how and to what extent does the project aim to question the role of the designer and notions of authenticity within our contemporary society?

iheartblob This proposal seeks not just to build a pavilion, but to provide an example for how we may change the way we fund architecture into something more sustainable (both environmentally and financially) and ultimately more responsive to community needs. It is the first step towards empowering citizens to become stakeholders of their own built environment - and conceptually very antagonistic towards the idea of an architect as the master builder who creates structures of great genius exemplified in Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead.

KOOZ How do you imagine these tools and technologies empowering communities and enabling local craftsmanship in the area around Tallinn?

iheartblob The connection between a global digital and a local physical is interesting in this project. Anyone in the world can design and mint a part of the pavilion but it will still be physically fabricated and assembled in Tallinn. This means that during physical construction we have access to digital twins, and this allows for the introduction of technology like Augmented Reality into the fabrication experience. We specifically chose wood for this project because of the flexible nature and ability to be influenced by local craftsmanship, empowered by new tech.

KOOZ In opposition to the ideas of empowerment which these technologies represent, there is a lot of controversy around the millions of tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions generated by cryptocurrencies. How does the project approach the environmental impact of minting?

iheartblob We chose Tezos blockchain as it is very environmentally friendly and the cleanest NFT process existing at the moment. Generating one mint is equivalent to sending one tweet (in terms of energy consumption). Tezos has a great community of artists and creators and our team has built a strong network of creatives within the tezos space.

KOOZ In addition to its physical presence at the entrance of TAB for the next year, the project will have a virtual dimension to it. How do you imagine this developing and evolving?

iheartblob We are planning on releasing an additional mobile app, where stakeholders will be able to see where their piece is located in the final structure. “The Architects” will also be featured as the co-designers. Further, the nature of digital ownership belonging to the creators means that some individual digital works may have unique curatorial lives of their own.

KOOZ What opportunities and realities do you envision emerging from this virtual collaborative endeavour?

iheartblob We hope this project will be the proof of concept for architects, showing that blockchain technologies can be used to achieve new ways of funding, designing and involving community in the processes. And a proof of concept for multiple communities showing how NFTs can foster a utility that spans both the digital and physical worlds.

Bio

iheartblob is an award winning architectural design studio and research collective formed by Aleksandra Belitskaja, Ben James and Shaun McCallum, currently based in the UK. The studio has a strong focus on the Architectural Object, yet, draws on core tenets from an array of philosophical and theoretical principles whilst exploring new models of architectural thinking and constructing. The work is meant to both enchant and reflect on the crisis of thought which runs through architecture today by investigating new and established ideas as though they were materials, engaging seriously with hard hitting agendas, whilst remaining at a distance from full immersion. The studio has developed numerous provocative proposals for international competitions as well as having worked exhibited across the globe including Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York and A+D Museum in Los Angeles.

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and digital curator whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2015 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Parallel to her work at KoozArch, Federica is Architect at the architecture studio UNA and researcher at the non-profit agency for change UNLESS where she is project manager of the research "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.