Ocean Articulated by Studio Eidola for the Swiss Arts Council Helvetia

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Ocean Articulated is a research project on commonly available local resources and how they can be replaced by sustainable alternatives, or how their use can be reduced if they cannot be easily reintroduced into the environment.

It started as an investigation into the cycles of salt and sand of the Swiss High Rhine area, where remnants of a prehistoric ocean and deposits of glacial erosion can be found.

A “site-as-a-source” approach was applied: available resources (salt and sand) and extraction methods, low transportation distances and local manufacturing were used to develop a recyclable and load-bearing material with a temporary nature.

Through the process of sand casting, a relatively simple technique that minimizes the number of tools needed and imprints a raw aesthetics on surfaces, the new material was modeled into a collection of stool and side tables in different sizes, as well as tiles and other material samples.