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03/03/2022 | ARCHITECTURE

THE FUTURE OF SALT

Technology is magical and fantastical, it challenges our most rooted habits, creating new opportunities out of them. For example, conventional table salt, whilst still associated with kitchens and food preservation, is currently undergoing a paradigm shift in its usage, with engineers and designers increasingly employing it to construct buildings of the future.

Salt has an ancient past: used to preserve food as early as 10.000 years ago, later among the Romans it was a currency to pay soldiers, hence the term “salary”. 
Today, salt is mass-produced also thanks to its adaptability and cost-effectiveness. Nonetheless, the amount of wasted salt has grown in recent times, resulting in the intensification of collective research to find creative recycling solutions. Thus, many creative proposals emerged, mostly in architecture and engineering sectors. AMBER Laboratory in Abu Dhabi believes salt can be employed in the process of making cement, also lowering air pollutant emissions to almost reach carbon-neutral. In interior design it is already used for manufacturing panels for saunas; in architecture the case study of the Iranian restaurant Salt Restaurant Shiraz sounds interesting, it is completely made out of salt, the shapes of which are inspired by the local caves.
In 2015, Dutch architect Eric Geboers presented the Salt Project, which was immediately viewed as very innovative and in step with the times and our future, as we will speed up towards increased desertification. Geboers attempted to create architecture by bringing salt water into deserts, most of which are located near coastal areas. A complex engineering system pumps seawater into dry places, without generating any waste: it separates salt from water, turning it into drinkable water for locals and crops. Instead, the salt obtained through the separation process is employed to build up a community integrated into the hydric infrastructure, a true city of salt is expected in 2035: a pearly white surface that recalls the traditional colour of desert architecture, while exploiting the quality of reflecting light.
In 2017, Eric Geboers also curated the project The Wall of Salt, in collaboration with Atelier Luma: 4.000 salt panels cover the walls next to the lift area of the Luma Tower by Frank Gehry in Arles. In the nearby Salins du Midi in Camargue, Atelier Luma has carried out for years high-quality research on the potential of salt during crystallization. Salt, which is abundant in this area, became a priceless resource from which the first panels for construction were made. After a change in attitude, Atelier Luma now focuses on cultivation of salt rather than on its transformation and manufacturing. The process takes 3 months for the panels to be immersed, while the salt takes up to 15 days to settle.

Rendering of the Salt Project by Eric Geboers (2015). A salt cathedral emerges from the desert.
Rendering of the interior of the Salt Project
Interior of the Salt Restaurant Shiraz in Shiraz, Iran.
The salt panels by Atelier Luma cover the walls of the Luma Tower, a project by the Canadian architect Frank Gehry in Arles.

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