FACTORY 5.0

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Factory 5.0 is a living architectural experiment that redefines how we think about production, materials, and collaboration between humans and nature. Presented at Dutch Design Week 2025 in Eindhoven, the pavilion merges digital craft with biological intelligence, symbolizing a shift toward post-anthropocentric design.

Rooted in the industrial legacy of Mumbai’s Eastern Mill Lands, the project reflects on how the First Industrial Revolution shaped cities and societies. Established in 1839, The New Great Eastern Mills emerged during a period of unprecedented industrial growth—the same year vulcanized rubber was invented, paving the way for plastics. Once hailed as an ecological alternative to ivory, plastics have since become one of the most urgent ecological disruptors of our time.

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Factory 5.0 responds to this paradox. The pavilion is constructed from 546 digitally fabricated components and 210 styrofoam plates, which are inhabited by nearly 10,000 kingworms. These natural decomposers, enclosed in transparent acrylic containers, consume the styrofoam over the course of the exhibition. As the organisms slowly transform the material, the pavilion itself evolves—its form, textures, and shadows changing in response to the biological process.

This collaboration between architecture and non-human intelligence challenges conventional ideas of permanence and authorship. Instead of a static object, the pavilion becomes a living process, orchestrated by decay and transformation. By embracing worms as co-creators, Factory 5.0 positions decomposition not as an end but as a form of regenerative design.

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The installation also emphasizes circularity and adaptability.
Designed for disassembly, all components are repurposed after the exhibition. The styrofoam plates, once partially decomposed, are preserved as “objects of memory,” capturing the temporal journey of the pavilion and its engagement with both history and future narratives.

Factory 5.0 is more than an installation—it is a provocation. It questions the legacy of extractive, industrial practices while speculating on how design in the Fifth Industrial Revolution might unfold. It proposes architecture as an active participant in ecological cycles, where decarbonization and regeneration lie at the heart of innovation.

As the pavilion evolves, it offers visitors an immersive, time-based experience that bridges industrial history with ecological futures. By transforming waste into a living architecture, Factory 5.0 demonstrates a hopeful new direction for urban production—where nature is not a resource to be consumed, but a collaborator to be honored.