This project is a case study, regarding an enclosed space, investigating the relation between human and the built environment. It is a conceptual approach that starts right after our diploma thesis with my colleague Marianna Kaltsa, where we have already noticed that the evolution of our cities is a nest building procedure, similar to mechanisms followed by other species. However, despite following this innate mechanism, we feel more alienated and disconnected from nature. Additionally, in our research thesis, focusing on the last century, we have noted that major social and economic events, had led to ephemeral architectural movements, re-imagining different ways of living.
The vision of the architects today is represented by minimum and primitivistic gestures. At the same time, the constant movement of population composes a changing dynamic field setting the trace of the modern nomadism. Boundaries are being less distinct due to constant moving, while variability and fluidity characterize this new realm.
Transparency and ephemerality are articulated as a momentary experience of space. From the period of Modern movement, where it comes to celebrate the victory of modern materials against the prevailing solid and compact constructions, to the perceptions of J. Nouvel and J. Baudrillard about the materiality, architects and artists investigate, regarding transparency, the absence of matter as natural and rigid presence, adding to the ephemeral vision new qualities.
This project could act as a stimulus to a research on how natural formations can be generated. On the one hand, there is the technical equipment as a tool, where software variables can be translated into space. On the other hand, there are specific principles and attributes that organize an abstract form, the notion of the “grid”, as a hidden mechanism that articulates a form aesthetically and guides a composition. Furthermore, the process of physically constructing an abstract geometry is an intriguing field of study, on how existing building methods can be pushed to their limit, combined with advancements in experimental materials and fabrication techniques.
In a digital era where socialization is expressed through ones and zeros, how emergent is the need to reconnect human with the natural environment? This formation inspired by a cave, as a natural enclosed space, aspires to reflect a contemporary trend in architecture, act as reminiscent of a lost relation between human and nature, and accommodate the intricate nature of human in our time.