Last Friday I took a trip to Governors Island to photograph the winning entry of this year's FIGMENT "City of Dreams" pavilion competition, Cast & Place. The structure is created through a process utilizing molten aluminum and cracked earth molds. Wet clay is added to a wooden mold, then allowed to dry which creates cracks and voids in the clay. The molten aluminum is then poured, filling these voids, becoming one of the structural panels as the metal cools. 

And if that wasn't awesome enough, the clay is locally excavated from Flushing, Queens (my hometown), the aluminum comes from 300,000 recycled soda cans (the amount used by NYC in 1 hour), and the wood is reclaimed from demolition sites and storm debris. If you would like to get more information on the design, process, and the group of architects, engineers, and educators that came together to create Cast & Place be sure to visit the Cast & Place Kickstarter Campaign. 

Designed by:

• Josh Draper - Principal of PrePost (http://studioprepost.com/)
• Lisa Ramsburg - Designer at Schlaich Bergermann Partner (http://www.sbp.de/en/)
• Powell Draper - Director of Operations at Schlaich Bergermann Partner 
• Edward M. Segal - Engineering professor in the NYC area
• Max Dowd - Architectural Designer in the NYC area
• Scot W. Thompson - Master Sculptor at Grounds For Sculpture (groundsforsculpture.org)
• Bruce Lindsay - Sculptor
• Alex Cheng - Structural Engineer at Schlaich Bergermann Partner