Mineral Accretion Factory is an alternative production system of objects and furniture based on the artificial reef production process developed by architect Wolf Hilbertz (Symbiotic Process Laboratory) and biologist Thomas J. Goreau to restore coral reefs and seabed (fauna, flora). This project is a reflection on an alterproduction from poor materials, primary technical devices, in relation to the economic and environmental context.
Mineral Accretion Factory consists of the immersion of a steel structure (the object’s skeleton) connected to a low-voltage supply (solar panel or windmill). A redox reaction starts, the object is self-generated, made of a material created from the ocean’s minerals. M.AF. demonstrates that a different ways are possible for production:
* integrated within a natural setting (no factory)
* using a basic apparatus and high scientific knowledge (low-tech + high-tech = wild-tech)
* respecting biological production cycles (slow-tech)
* effortlessly and costlessly
This research program through design gives rise to the possibility of setting up production processes that have a positive impact on the environment. It participates in the emergence of wildtech as defined by the French anthropologist Yann-Philippe Tastevin.
The project started in 2012 in Indonesia on Gili Trawangan island. Today, it continues on La Réunion island with the school of art in a research center on turtles.