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Fernando Mastrangelo creates a tiny house with cast recycled plastic walls

A House For Ants?

Fernando Mastrangelo creates a tiny house with cast recycled plastic walls

Brooklyn-based concrete artist Fernando Mastrangelo is no stranger to casting delicately colored, intricately-layered furniture and panels in experimental materials. During the 2019 New York Design Week, Fernando Mastrangelo Studio (FM/S) has cast TINY HOUSE, and will exhibit the micro-space in the Design Pavilion, the Times Square-based design district, until May 22.

The 175-square-foot structure was designed with sustainability in mind. The exterior walls, which transition from black at the base to a delicate gray at the gabled tip, were cast from recycled plastic.

Once past the narrow threshold, the “house” is delineated into three zones—the first is austere and made from cast-off scrap glass. A blue space (the Terra Room) with cladding the texture of volcanic rock and matching shag carpet follows. Past that, visitors can climb through an oculus to a semi-enclosed courtyard garden for a moment of quiet reflection before leaving the house—though in practice, it was being used as a selfie location when AN toured the installation.

TINY HOUSE was optimized to integrate a multitude of fine touches to create an oasis-like feel. The landscaping from Brook Landscape, which also designed the courtyard garden, was curated to frame views of the city while also holding the surrounding chaos of Times Square at bay.

Portrait photo of a contemplative garden through a narrow vertical portcullis
The landscaped courtyard garden is intended to provide a moment of respite and reflection before leaving TINY HOUSE. The walls are made from crushed black sand intended to resemble volcanic rock. (Jonathan Hilburg/AN)

FM/S worked closely with Anne-Laure Pingreoun, curator at Alter-Projects, and Steve Lastro, CTO of technology designer 6Sides to select its partners. Delos donated a DARWIN system to monitor and respond to the conditions inside by purifying the air and providing dynamic, circadian sound and lighting. Givaudan and Karen Flinn Creative created the custom scents that waft throughout each zone.

TINY HOUSE will be on display in the Times Square Pedestrian Plaza, on Broadway between West 45th and West 46th Streets, until May 22.

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