Exploring regenerative materials with 3D printed marble dust
There’s a 3D printed installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, and it comes from marble dust and recycled components. The project, led by OZRUH in collaboration with ETH Zurich, attempts to look into how architecture can address waste using modular structure and regenerative materials. It’s a two-part project for the design teams. The first one is the modular 3D printed marble dust, located at the Pavilion of Türkiye. The next, a documentary film in the Artificial section of the Arsenale curated by Carlo Ratti, where the robots are present, too.
A focus on the 3D printed marble dust: it’s called Anti-Ruin. OZRUH and ETH Zurich use the byproduct of the marble extraction processes at the Lasa Marmo Quarry in South Tyrol for the installation. The teams process the dust using a binder jetting method developed by Dr. Pietro Odaglia at Digital Building Technologies, ETH Zurich. It adopts a liquid binder to solidify the dust. The process, then, doesn’t need molds or formwork. As a result, the teams have two columns and a horizontal slab, all of which are modular. They form the ensemble of the 3D printed marble dust.
all images courtesy of OZRUH
Stone installation at the Venice architecture biennale 2025
One of the columns isn’t connected to the slab; the user can adjust or move it. The structural engineering team at formDP turns to computational tools to produce it like this. The software helped them calculate the center of gravity and internal load paths of the slab. The reason it is adjustable is because OZRUH and ETH Zurich want to explore the boundaries of architectural completeness at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. Instead of viewing buildings as either finished or unfinished, Anti-Ruin lets each construction phase and piece function independently and be modular, a growing trend in recent architecture. The 3D printed marble dust installation forms part of the ‘Grounded / Yerebatan’ exhibition at the Pavilion of Türkiye, curated by Bilge Kalfa and Ceren Erdem, commissioned by İKSV.
Since the project integrates recycled materials from quarry waste, it can be disassembled and reused. The accompanying film at the Arsenale by Troy Edige and Beyza Mese documents the design, printing, and construction stages. It includes footage from ETH Zurich and the Lasa Marmo Quarry. The next stop of Anti-Ruin is at the World Design Congress at the Barbican in London, between September 9th and 10th, 2025. This phase applies the same system to alternative construction waste, including crushed brick and demolition dust. In this way, the 3D printed marble dust continues as an installation that focuses on recycling and making modular components for architecture.
3D printed installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 from marble dust and recycled components
the project, led by OZRUH in collaboration with ETH Zurich, looks into how architecture can address waste
it’s a two-part project, with the first one being the modular 3D printed marble dust
the installation by OZRUH and ETH Zurich is inside the Pavilion of Türkiye
OZRUH and ETH Zurich use the byproduct of the marble extraction processes at the Lasa Marmo Quarry
the teams process the dust using a binder jetting method
the process doesn’t need molds or formwork to function or be produced
detailed view of Anti-Ruin
there’s an accompanying documentary film in the Artificial section of the Arsenale
the movie documents the teams’ process
project info:
name: Anti-Ruin
design: OZRUH | @ozruh_official
institution: ETH Zurich | @ethzurich
engineering: formDP | @form_dp
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: matthew burgos | designboom
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