At this year’s Fuorisalone during Milan Design Week (7–17 April 2025), architecture studio Alvisi Kirimoto unveils TAM TAM. Temple, Action, Movement — an interactive installation made entirely from recycled plastic. Designed in collaboration with COREPLA, Italy’s National Consortium for the Collection, Recycling, and Recovery of Plastic Packaging, the piece reimagines the classical temple not as a fixed monument, but as a circular, flexible, and evolving structure.

Set within the historic courtyard of the Università degli Studi di Milano ‘La Statale,’ TAM TAM forms part of the Interni Cre-Action exhibition, a showcase celebrating the power of design to unite creativity with social and ecological action.

Architecture in Motion
TAM TAM consists of six cylindrical columns, each of varying diameter, that can be moved and repositioned by visitors. The installation measures 6 x 6 x 5 metres and invites direct interaction, encouraging visitors to reshape the spatial configuration in real time. This dynamic quality challenges the traditional architectural notion of permanence and transforms the installation into an ever-changing landscape of human relationships.

Inspired by Vitruvius’ enduring principles — firmitas (strength), utilitas (function), and venustas (beauty) — the project integrates participatory design and sensory experience. According to Junko Kirimoto, co-founder of the studio, the installation “adapts and responds to the needs of those who inhabit it,” positioning architecture as a dialogue between space and user rather than a static imposition.

Circular Design in Practice
Sustainability is central to TAM TAM’s concept and construction. The entire structure is fabricated from post-consumer recycled plastic sourced and processed through COREPLA’s recycling network. With approximately 2,500 member companies across Italy’s plastics value chain, COREPLA aims to meet EU recycling and recovery targets through large-scale collaboration and innovation.

After its temporary exhibition life, the installation is intended to be reused or dismantled into components that can be transformed into new products — a commitment to material circularity and resource efficiency.

Minimalism as Medium
The installation’s stark white palette strips away distractions, focusing attention on form, movement, and user interaction. The purity of the colour enhances spatial perception, while the absence of ornamentation allows the kinetic nature of the piece — shifting columns, evolving paths, expanding and contracting volumes — to take centre stage.

This approach underscores the potential of sustainable materials to serve not only functional or aesthetic goals, but also to catalyse emotional and social experiences. For architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and product designers, TAM TAM offers a thought-provoking model of how recycled materials, interactive design, and circular thinking can converge to reshape spatial storytelling.

Source: Press release by Alvisi Kirimoto via Mint List
Photos: Giuseppe Miotto – Marco Cappelletti Studio