Dirty pavilion — So Alea

Dirty lab pavilion, 2024
Collaboration with PARK Associati
Domaine de Boisbuchet, Lessac, France

Collaborations, Workshops

The Dirty Lab pavilion is part of Aléa’s long-term applied research project the Garden Lab at Domaine de Boisbuchet, a transdisciplinary, open-air laboratory for experimenting with living systems. Rooted in the regenerative power of mycelia - the filamentous networks of fungi - the pavilion embraces their metaphor of interconnection, while exploring myco-fabrication and it’s potential for ephemeral architecture.

Developed in collaboration with architecture firm Park Associati, the summer workshop led by Stella Lee Prowse and Miriam Josi, invited participants to build modular outdoor labs and experiment with Aléa’s Back to Dirt process, growing objects directly in the soil with local substrates. The individual lab modules were later assembled into a collective pavilion: an inverted observatory that turns attention inward and downward into the ground. Left untreated, the pavilion continues to evolve with the elements before ultimately returning to the soil, embodying a cycle of experimentation, impermanence, and regeneration. Photos: Andres Tapia