It’s called Mega Mat, it is a huge mosaic made up of over 500 recycled plastic rugs, created by the MVRDV design studio for Bangkok Design Week.
A temporary installation that extends over an area of 875 m², strategically positioned in Laan Kon Muang Plaza, designed to tell the problem of plastic waste in Thailand, a country that produces 2 million tons every year.
The modular rugs that make up the installation form in the whole a huge mat (his) on which Thai families sit for generations. The design resumes a traditional Thai motif, its-cam, thus creating a connection between tradition and innovation.
The choice of colors plays a fundamental role in transmitting the message: each of them represents a type of refusal. Red symbolizes the waste that end up in unchanged landfills, the orange indicates the waste that go to landfills in accordance with the yellow ones, those not collected, while the green represents recycled plastic. The colors, with their concentric arrangement, also refer to the colorful roofs of the Wat Suthat Thepwararam, a temple located behind the square.
In a corner the mega Mat is raised just like the inclined roofs of the adjacent temple: here there are information and infographic panels that shed light on the difficulties related to waste management and on the drifts of plastic consumption in the country.
The installation will remain open until February 23, after which it will be dismantled and modular rugs of which it is composed will be reused in local temples, in the form of prayer mats, yoga mats, but also bags and various objects, once again demonstrating the value of reuse and sustainability.
Sources: mvrdv
