Earthseed Dome Puts 3D-Printed Living Soil in San Francisco's Transamerica Redwood Park

Earthseed Dome is now open to the public inside Transamerica Redwood Park in San Francisco. Botanical artist Lily Kwong designed the installation, and the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco is presenting it. The dome itself is built from more than 120 modules 3D printed in earth using a robotic arm fitted with WASP's LDM XXL Extruder and CFS HD pumping system.

Printed On-Site, In Public

Fabrication began in January 2026 during San Francisco Art Week. The robotic arm worked on-site at the Transamerica Pyramid over several weeks. Visitors could watch as the structure took shape. That transparency matters. Most large-scale 3D printed architecture happens behind fences or inside warehouses. Here, the process was part of the exhibit.

The modules use a local soil composite. No exotic binder, no secret recipe. The material is literally the ground beneath the park. That choice keeps the installation honest to its ecological premise.

Wildflower Soil Forms

Separate from the dome, a series of smaller earth-printed forms were produced using the WASP 40100 LDM. These were filled with seeds of native San Francisco wildflowers and placed in the soil mounds at the dome's base. The plan is for them to sprout and bloom over time, turning the installation into something that grows rather than something that just sits there.

WASP has done this before. The company supported Columbia University's Natural Materials Lab at the Venice Biennale of Architecture with a similar earth installation. It also helped build a biodegradable rest facility at Expo 2025 in Osaka. Earthseed Dome is different because it does not aim to disappear. The structure is permanent. The wildflowers are the temporary element, cycling through seasons while the dome remains.

Why It Matters

Large-format earth 3D printing usually lands in either the housing construction camp or the art installation camp. Earthseed Dome tries to sit in both. It proves that robotic earth extrusion can produce something durable and structurally coherent while still carrying an ecological message that does not feel like marketing.

Atelio handled design and fabrication stewardship for the project. WASP provided the printing technology and on-site support. The result is a structure that looks ancient and futuristic at the same time. If you are in San Francisco before the installation closes, it is worth the walk through the redwoods to see it.