project02:Frontpage

Babel Tower: The Waste Land

author(s):Karolos Michailidis, Vasiliki Koliaki

INSPIRATION

== "Death as a social phenomenon has a multilevel meaning in every society, a spectacular manifestation that is expressed with grief to celebrate its presence. The existence of Death is just fragmented without the commencement of Life. This empirical relationship forms the social norms towards the realization of Death and the acceptance of it. In modern societies humans are mainly inhabiting the world with fear of the unknown, the after-Life, or the end of something known and familiar.

The tectonics of Life needs the climax of Death as an appreciation and elevation. The unknown dimensions and presence of the after-Life creates a continuous struggle to discover and explain. But why is Death seen with fear? Why is the architecture of Death a taboo and acts as a striking awakening about the limit that Life holds? The final goodbye is translated differently and the journey takes a different path. Relationship of Life and Death are interpreted from scratch. Water as a symbol of purity, helps the process and makes the journey from the depth of the sea to the highest point in the sky, travelling side by side with the lost souls.

"An architecture is proposed which expresses grief, but also one which provides solace, and more importantly it returns death to its rightful place within society - for death does not overlook the city, but it is part of it."

Between the buildings of Rotterdam it connects water and sky, isolated from land but an integral part of the city, and fighting its way in society. Because it might sound unpleasant and unwelcoming but the the trip of Life is most certainly full of experiences. A location where the dead and the still living can meet- where religion is not a barrier and where faith is a personal way of expression. But how can people of different religions in a multi-cultural society interact and establish a peaceful and balanced co-existence in this Babel Tower?" ==

References:

Image 1- map of Rotterdam outlining the importance of the water element

Image 2- Notre Dame du Haute, Le corbusier, 1955

Image 3- Programmatic Diagram of Scheme

Image 4- Space elevator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator)

Image 5- Conceptual Collage