Turning Plastic Waste into an Immersive Sound and Light Installation

Recycled 3D printing waste has been transformed into a distributed sound field titled Ninefold: A Distributed Resonant Field, an installation featuring nine large-scale resonant forms that shape sound, light, and spatial experience at the Reeves House Visual Arts Center in Woodstock, Georgia, according to project documentation. Developed by architect Hyojin Kwon, percussionist, composer, and multimedia artist Jeremy Muller, and architect and material researcher Misri Patel, the project converts discarded PLA collected from fabrication laboratories into architectural acoustic instruments on view through September 24, 2026.

Fabrication and Material Composition of Ninefold

The installation utilizes discarded PLA collected from fabrication laboratories, according to project disclosures. Technicians shred the material into pellets, blend it with virgin material, and reprint it into nine large-scale artifacts using pellet-based additive manufacturing. Rather than concealing manufacturing imperfections, the fabrication process deliberately leaves variations in transparency, opacity, color, and layered deposition visible across the surfaces. This approach allows each object to register the physical transformation of the recycled resource.

The forms themselves emerge from a shared computational system driven by reaction–diffusion algorithms, as detailed by the designers. Instead of replicating a single geometry, the software produces continuously evolving shapes that expand, contract, twist, and fold. Individual artifacts vary significantly in scale and configuration; some develop into tall, slender columns, while others widen into chambers or pinch inward at their centers.

Acoustic Design and Spatial Sound Fields

Every object in the exhibition functions as a resonant body tuned to a specific frequency within a harmonic spectrum, according to project notes. Drawing on historical precedents such as Edgard Varèse’s concept of “organized sound” and the spatial systems of Iannis Xenakis and Le Corbusier, the installation disperses sound sources throughout the room rather than concentrating them at a single point, according to Woodstock Arts.

The network of nine interdependent harmonic voices shifts continuously between sustained tones, rhythmic pulses, and evolving textures. As visitors move through the Reeves House galleries, their proximity and changing positions alter how the acoustic field is perceived. Sound intensifies, overlaps, and recedes depending on where an individual stands.

Plastic Reimagined and Exhibition Context

Ninefold is presented alongside a companion exhibition titled Plastic Reimagined: Material Agency & Circular Design. This dual exhibition examines architectural applications for discarded plastics through computational design, material experimentation, and large-scale fabrication, according to project curators. The companion showcase was developed within a graduate design-research studio at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where students sourced discarded materials such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and PLA from campus streams and local recycling programs.

Student participants in the Georgia Tech studio include Anuj Chhikara, Darby Fly, Sara Hill, Ash King, Brian Lachnicht, Nicholas Liubinskas, Kayla Rinoski, Tianxiang Sheng, Sarah Thrasher, Rachel Witherspoon, Taylor Jensen, Qin Wang, and Kai Wang, under the instruction of Hyojin Kwon, Assistant Professor in the School of Architecture. Fabrication assistance for Ninefold was provided by Andrew Hong and Arunnganabathy Sankare, with installation support from Julie Jiyoon Lim. The project received support from the National Science Foundation via the ReCreateIt: Transforming Plastic Waste Through Community-Led Manufacturing grant (NSF Convergence Accelerator Phase II), alongside the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute, the Georgia Tech College of Design, and the Georgia Tech Invention Studio.

Public Programming and Event Schedule

The exhibition runs from July 10 through September 24, 2026, at the Reeves House Visual Arts Center. On August 20, the gallery will host a special event titled Night Viewing: Artist Panel & Performance. The evening features a discussion with designers Hyojin Kwon, Jeremy Muller, and Misri Patel, followed by a live sixty-minute musical composition performed by Muller that activates the nine resonant artifacts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What materials are used to build the installation?

The artifacts are fabricated from recycled PLA collected from fabrication laboratories, shredded into pellets, and reprinted using large-format additive manufacturing.