Micrographia - Redesign for Biodiversity: Johanna Seelemann x Park Associati

Park Associati presents Micrographia - Redesign for Biodiversity, three experimental works by the multidisciplinary design studio Johanna Seelemann, designed and developed upon invitation and with the production supervision of Park Associati, thanks to the collaboration of Ricehouse, Arche3d, Primat and with the scientific support of the Vivaio Bicocca.


Micrographia, Panettone – Ph Nicola Colella

How can we design urban products that are useful beyond human application and that serve numerous species simultaneously? Starting from this question, Seelemann's research unfolds within the exhibition space of the Park Associati studio to give shape to the exhibition Micrographia, whose title derives from the book of the same name by Robert Hooke from 1665, which has become historically relevant for having been the first publication to include illustrations of insects and plants seen under a microscope.


Micrographia. Habitat – Ph Nicola Colella

This term here becomes a metaphor to suggest a more extensive and in-depth approach to the design of products and spaces accessible even to the less obvious inhabitants of the city.


Micrographia, Habitat – Ph Nicola Colella

The three works of Micrographia

At the entrance to the Park Hub exhibition space, seed bombs with a shape similar to the one of Enzo Mari's bollards - created in collaboration with Primat - contain native Milanese plant species commonly present in our territory, useful for pollinators. Entering the spaces of the Park Hub, the street furniture elements are reviewed from a non-anthropocentric perspective. The facade elements - created in collaboration with Ricehouse and Arche3d - also become habitable places for birds and insects thanks to the holes and cavities studied with researchers from the Bicocca Nursery for specific types of pollinators and birds. The pots are an oasis for urban plants: the clear ones - inspired by an ancient low-tech method used for irrigation - can be filled with water and buried; the darker version, however, can function as a typical vase.


Micrographia collage Installation

With the aim of formulating optimistic suggestions and alternative scenarios for the future, the designer conceived these three experimental works which can be used differently by various species at the same time - thanks also to the knowledge shared with the studio by Gustavo Gandini, biodiversity expert within the city of Milan - fusing the aesthetics of industrial products with mineral-based materials.