The Wall as the Main Theme
Mentioned Project for the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2015 Lakefront Kiosk Competition
A building should be poetry! Our proposal consists of one materialized idea: the wall. Our fascination starts with ancient ruins and temples—objects that are destroyed, but their idea still lives in our memories. Many years after deconstruction, especially because of the short life of the kiosk, people will still remember sitting behind the wall, protected from the hot sun and noisy environment.
The long black wall separates two worlds: the hectic and crowded street and the beautiful and relaxing sea. Here, separated and far away from the routines and nuisances of daily life, the wilderness of the ocean becomes a fenced garden. Approaching the object from the street, you perceive the wall as a thin extruded line that defines natural and artificial environment. On the beach-site the object is separated into fragments. Like a ruin, it creates an in-time and still open atmosphere. The ruin invites the visitor to linger awhile.
For the object we propose two options. The first is a massive object, fully created out of layered wood panels. For this option, we would collaborate with a sponsor from a wood company. During the drying process, wooden panels get stapled and have to stand for a certain time anyway, so why not use them for constructing a kiosk? In that way, the large-scale object can be realized with minimum cost (only transportation, construction, and eventual damage). The second option is a more fragmented ruin, consisting only of the inner kiosk, which is constructed in wood, while the rest of the body is created with textile elements.