Pratt students build structures to visualize the impacts and building potential of plastic waste

In an effort to represent the toll plastic waste has on the environment, a group of undergraduate architecture students from the Pratt Institute have constructed a series of inflatable structures that put into physical form the research they say simultaneously demonstrates the potential for its reduction and reuse as a building material. The project was completed through Pratt’s d.r.a. Lab, which is overseen by professors Duks Koschitz and Robert Lee Brackett III. Together with their instructors, the 5-person team worked to test out different techniques useful in the development of walls, tubes, and domes that can be used in a variety of self-supporting structures. The students were then able to install the structures outside of Pratt’s library in order to display the distinctive role of each design. The Plastic Confusion. Image courtesy Robert Lee Brackett III. The first design, titled “Super Maxi” organized a network of portals into a unique viewing platform that offers different ...