The Alchemical Sovereign
To base architecture on poetry
2023
Based on the poetry of Patti Smith I developed a tower. A tower with steep paper curtains falling down from floor to floor. To wander through the spaces, through the tactility of the thin transparent paper, the shadows of people and the rustling sounds of steps echoing in the paper hallways. By studying the island of Onekotan, its weather conditions, landscape and the view on the volcano I created a holistic temple for the disappearing practice of air burials, placed on the uninhabited island to restore vulture population and push the visitor into a long, steep travel of internal reflection.
“ The walls of our huts are papered with leaves from sacred texts
Washed in the alchemical gold of another age
Layer obscuring layer
Yet we absorb every layer as we sleep, comprehending as we wake ”
- Patti Smith
Washed in the alchemical gold of another age
Layer obscuring layer
Yet we absorb every layer as we sleep, comprehending as we wake ”
- Patti Smith
