This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
RESPYRE
What if concrete could capture COâ‚‚ and grow life?
Devoonsounds and Respyre have joined forces for this ROOTS edition, presenting an in- and outdoor sound sculpture made from recycled concrete on which moss naturally grows.
​
Dutch start-up Respyre, supported by TU Delft, has developed a bioreceptive concrete that is specifically engineered to stimulate moss growth on building surfaces. Through its carefully designed texture, porosity and mineral composition, the material creates the ideal conditions for moss to attach and thrive—without the need for soil, irrigation systems, or intensive maintenance.
​
This innovation offers a powerful response to challenges in the built environment. The moss layer helps reduce urban heat stress by cooling surfaces and surrounding air by 2 to 6 degrees. It captures fine particulate matter and COâ‚‚, contributing to improved air quality, while increasing biodiversity by creating habitats for insects and microorganisms. In addition, it supports water buffering, reduces surface runoff and protects building materials from weathering, extending their lifespan.
​
Respyre reintroduces life into architecture—transforming static, grey surfaces into living, breathing systems.
Using this recycled moss concrete, Devoonsounds creates this sound sculpture, premiering here at ROOTS Exhibition Milano. Within the narrative of ROOTS and the Sleeping Beauty theme, these objects become more than sound pieces—they are living, awakening surfaces. Like a city at rest slowly coming back to life, the sculptures merge art, technology and sustainability into works that can be both seen and heard.
At ROOTS, this collaboration reflects a new way of building: not against nature, but with it—where materials support life and contribute back to the ecosystem.
​