Tropical Mining Station
As a Partner Program at the Chicago Architecture Biennial FOAM produced an installation, The Tropical Mining Station, and an all day symposium, hosted by Future Firm.
The Tropical Mining Station developed techniques for harnessing spatial externalities from the cryptocurrency mining processes, such as heat and airflow, to produce new atmospheric typologies and spatial programs as a node on the blockchain.
This pneumatic structure, inflated from the miners cooling fans, became a space of tropical heat and
surplus - an instrument made from the process of mining Ethereum.
Intangibly, the installation brought together Architects and assembled a discourse on blockchain technology, crypto-architecture, and the potential of these developments, which had previously only existed as a decentralized virtual community.
Credits: "Tropical Mining Station" by FOAM DAO. Design team: Ryan John King, Ekaterina Zavyalova, Nick Axel and Kristoffer Josefsson. Generously hosted by Future Firm.
The installation was preceded by an Inflatable workshop, led by Jesse Seegers, to help kickstart the the first stage of prototype fabrication.