For the launch of a much-anticipated sustainable clothing collection by Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of the New York City-based cult fashion brand PSNY, in 2018 Modellus Novus conceived of a building that would serve as an architectural sculpture. Located at the intersection of New York City’s Soho and Chinatown neighborhoods, MN used simple means — paint, utility lights, and pea gravel — to transform the building into an urban exhibition echoing the designers’ statements about permanence and place, reuse and repurposing.
The gallery-like environment was grounded with ten tons of pea gravel poured across the entire floor, creating a three-inch rock bed that forced visitors’ contemplation as their feet rustled through the space.