THE WORLD IS YOUR MUSSEL

“The World is Your Mussel” is a remediation project, based in the coastal town Taranto in Italy. Due to the industrial activity in the city, Taranto has been severely contaminated and as a consequence, the Old Town has been mostly abandoned by the local residents and is slowly decaying. This project aims to restore the Old Town by bringing back the traditional black mussel farming, which has declined due to polluted waters. Through establishing new farms that will help clean the water through natural filtration, the mussels are used as a sustainable construction material produced on site, bringing the fishermen back to their trade while providing more jobs and a sustainable restoration of the Old Town. The project consist of the mussel-production industry, where each ruin gets lidar scanned to produce 3D printed panels that fit where required for restauration. An aerial gantry system moves the materials around the city and a communal cafe and a small-scale workshop is provided to engage Taranto’s residents in the new trade. A series of flats will be provided to the mussel workers and their families, re-using the temporary scaffholding currently holding up the city as a permanent secondary structure along with the mussel-crete.