SO - IL, mariana popescu & thegreeneyl suspend 3D knitted natural fibers in venice biennale

HOISTED 3D knitted natural fibers at the arsenale 

SO – IL, Mariana Popescu, and TheGreenEyl unveil an installation of 3D knitted natural fibers that spans between the columns of the Arsenale Corderie for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. The web of 3D knitted natural fibers, captured by Iwan Baan, is on view in Room 3 of the Natural Intelligence section of the international exhibition. The installation named Necto remains on site between May 10th and November 23rd, 2025. Formed using a tension-based system, the structure comes through using computational design processes.

The structure consists of a knitted surface made from natural fibers, produced in strips and optimized with computational modeling. SO – IL, Mariana Popescu, and TheGreenEyl design the installative 3D knitted natural fibers to be portable. Before it arrived at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, the web was divided into parts and packed in compact containers for transport. The design team assembled it on site without any use of heavy equipment. After the exhibition, they will dismantle and repack Necto again for future use, leaving no materials and imprints behind. Necto is a study of form-finding using textile, flexible enough to change shape depending on the space and the curators’ needs.

all images courtesy of SO – IL | image © Iwan Baan, @iwanbaan

Suspended installation for venice architecture biennale 2025

SO – IL, Mariana Popescu, and TheGreenEyl hang Necto from ceiling trusses and brace it against the columns of the Arsenale Corderie. The 3D knitted natural fibers hover midair, anchored to the ground. There are structural rings around the installation, shaping the surface and stabilizing the set. The architectural design firm, computational designer, and research practice say that three spatial features mark the installation of 3D knitted natural fibers: a cone-shaped volume, a column-like element, and a suspended mass. There’s a translucent bio-based coating added to Necto. This makes specific areas of the web rigid, while the rest are flexible.

It is this selective stiffening that brings the transition between tension, fluidity, and solidness around the 3D knitted natural fibers. The design teams even embed luminous threads around the installation, giving it a glimmer once the light shines on it. They also include a DNA-encoded coating. It embeds data related to material composition and structural behavior directly into the fibers, possibly allowing for traceability and analysis. SO – IL has collaborated with the computational architect and structural designer Dr. Mariana Popescu as well as the design and research practice TheGreenEyl for Necto.

SO – IL unveils Necto at the Arsenale Corderie | image © Iwan Baan

the web of 3D knitted natural fibers is on view in Room 3 of the Natural Intelligence section | image © Iwan Baan

the installation named Necto remains on site between May 10th and November 23rd, 2025 | image © Iwan Baan

formed using a tension-based system, the structure comes through using computational design | image © Iwan Baan

the structure consists of a knitted surface made from natural fibers | image © Iwan Baan

the structure hovers midair, anchored to the ground | image © Iwan Baan

there’s a translucent bio-based coating added to Necto | image © Iwan Baan

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project info:

name: Necto

architecture firm: SO – IL | @solidobjectives

structural designer: Dr. Mariana Popescu | @maadpope

experience design: TheGreenEyl | @thegreeneyl

photography: Iwan Baan | @iwanbaan

team members: SO – IL: Florian Idenburg, Jing Liu, Marlena Fauer, Demetri Lampris (Design); Tailored Materiality Research, TU Delft/MIT: Mariana Popescu, Niclas Brandt, Valentin Lorenzen da Silva, Nikoletta Christidi (Design, Membrane Design and Engineering, Membrane Fabrication and Construction); TheGreenEyl: Richard The (Design), Noah Feehan, Ben Bojko, Saralee Sittigaroon, and Arden Schager (Experience design); Professorship of Structural Design, Technical University of Munich: Pierluigi D’Acunto, Anass Kariouh (Structural Engineering); Steiger Participation: Jean-Luc Lepieszko, Jean-Francois Cochez (Membrane fabrication and construction); Shaping Matter Lab, TU Delft: Kunal Masania, Jasper Groen (Bio-coating and DNA data embedding and error correction); Functional Materials Laboratory, ETH: Robert Grass, Francesca Granito (Bio-coating and DNA data embedding and error correction); Professorship of Machine Learning, Technical University of Munich: Reinhard Heckel, Maria Abu Sini (Bio-coating and DNA data embedding and error correction); Marian Mentrup (Sound design); Tim Teven Studio (Furniture)