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  • TAB 2022 Launches The Platform To Design And Mint The Blocks To Build The ‘Fungible Non-Fungible Pavilion’ By iheartblob

TAB 2022 Launches The Platform To Design And Mint The Blocks To Build The ‘Fungible Non-Fungible Pavilion’ By iheartblob

 The ‘Fungible Non-Fungible Pavilion’

The 6th Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2022)  launches the platform that will allow users to take part in the design process of the “Fungible Non–Fungible Pavilion” conceived by iheartblob.

It represents the winning proposal of TAB 2022 Installation Programme Competition which focuses on the concept of slowness, aligning with the international exhibition main curatorial theme “Edible. Or, the Architecture of Metabolism”.

The pavilion will be the first-ever blockchain–funded architecture initiative and will open to the public on September 7th, 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia. 

iheartblob is an award–winning mixed reality design studio and research collective with a strong focus on the Architectural Object and the role of emerging technologies within architecture. 

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 iheartblob team consists of the following members: 

Sasha Belitskaja, an Estonian architectural designer, NFT artist and UX developer whose work centers on novel interactive design models and the interplay of new emergent aesthetics.

Benjamin James, an American–British economist and architectural designer. His works fuses these disciplines by focusing on the use of new disruptive technology in design; specifically the link between machine vision, machine learning and digital fabrication.

Shaun McCallum, a Scottish architectural designer and faculty atUCLA’s school of Architecture and Urban Design. His work investigates the impact of new technologies upon socio–political cultures through ephemeral architectural objects and installations.

 The studio has exhibited numerous provocative proposals across the globe including at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City and the A+D Museum in Los Angeles.

They have also constructed a variety of mixed reality works as physical/digital pavilions for the Toronto Winter Stations Festival and Magazin Gallery in Vienna; and their research has been presented at the Architectural Association visiting school in China and in publications such as Archinect’s Ed magazine.

They have most recently released their book: iheartblob – Augmented Architectural Objects: A New Visual Language.

iheartblob completely re–thinks the requirements of the pavilion by presenting a new decentralized and systematic approach towards architectural design, fabrication, and funding in which the community are both designers and investors. 

The architect becomes a system designer that empowers communities and enables local craftsmanship through the usage of blockchain, specifically the emergence of Non–FungibleToken (“NFT”), and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”).

iheartblob, rather than designing architecture elements themselves, have built a dedicated platform:

https://tab.iheartblob.com/

The platform features a generative NFT tool in which individuals can design and “mint” – the process of creating and authenticating digital ownership–their own objects. 

The design platform will be live at 3 pm CET on July 7th, 2022. 

The platform will show an interactive 3D interface where users will have a maximum number of primitive objects such as cubes, triangles, and more in different colors and shapes, that they can combine to design their very own block. 

Under the design guidance of iheartblob, the built pavilion will be a combination of all of the user’s designed and minted blocks: each of them will be translated into constructible timber pieces. 

To purchase their block, users will have to connect to their Tezos (XTZ) blockchain wallet:

“We chose the Tezos blockchain as it is very environment friendly and supports the cleanest NFT processes: just think that to mint one block it uses the equivalent energy needed to post one tweet. 

Tezos has also a great community of artists and creators and our team has built strong relationships within this network.”

– Shaun McCallum, co–founder of iheartblob. 

iheartblob is partnering with Objkt.com the largest primary and secondary marketplace for Tezos NFTs and it has a reputation as a place for young and experimental artists to be able to showcase their work. 

Users will own the digital block, their art piece, while physical blocks will not be owned by them.

iheartblob wants to encourage future exchange and potential future developments of the Fungible Non–Fungible project.