“True Cost” Exhibition at Milan Design Week Portrays Environmental Cost of Construction Industry


A visitor views the ‘True Cost’ video projection in the Swatchbox Milan Exhibition. Image Courtesy of Swatchbox

A visitor views the ‘True Cost’ video projection in the Swatchbox Milan Exhibition. Image Courtesy of Swatchbox

Milan Design Week rarely fails to deliver on compelling showcases of design and innovation.

One of the exhibitions this year, created by Swatchbox, conveys the “true cost” of traditional approaches to construction. The sample platform founded by architects to provide sustainable sampling methods to the design community launched its thought-provoking showcase at the heart of the Brera Design District in Milan.

The exhibit boldly confronts the issue of wastefulness inherent in traditional construction practices. Installed inside an office in Brera that is ordinarily occupied by a Milan architecture firm, the exhibit displays a large pile of construction materials typically destined for landfill. The materials are meticulously arranged to showcase the sheer volume of waste generated by the design community.

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