Elena Nechaeva
@elenanechaeva_
Entangled systems
Between Constructed Forms and Adaptive GrowthSteel
115x90x90 cm
2026
115x90x90 cm
2026
Entangled Bodies explores the relationship between adaptive natural growth and humanmade structures. The project is inspired by observing how plants adapt to built environments, growing through and around architectural and industrial systems. Rather than existing separately, these two systems continuously influence and reshape one another, giving rise to hybrid bodies that exist between natural and constructed. Instead of representing these interactions literally, the project uses them as a design method. Through making, it investigates how the behaviours of adaptive growth can generate new forms within rigid constructed frameworks.
Steel became the central material because it belongs to both systems. It represents industrial construction, yet it also exists within geological and biological systems. Some plants are capable of absorbing and accumulating heavy metals from the soil, allowing steel to be understood as a shared element across both natural and human-made environments. The objects are created by combining rigid steel frameworks with manually bent steel rods. Through bending, wrapping, and tension, structural relationships emerge during the making process, allowing each piece to develop through the interaction between control and adaptation rather than following a predetermined form.
The resulting collection currently consists of a shelving system and a lighting object. The project demonstrates an evolving design methodology capable of generating new typologies.