stoned Environments

In Greek mythology the Chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing creature. She had the body of a lioness, a tail ending in a snake’s head, and a goat’s head arising on her back at the centre of her spine. There are of course many other examples in different cultures that could also be referred to as Chimeras. In genetics, biology and botany a Chimera represents an animal or plant with genetically distinct cells from two different zygotes or genetically different types of tissue; the resulting organism is a mixture of tissues, and of different sets of chromosomes. In paleontology, it is a fossil reconstructed with parts from different animals.

aRC(2)himera is an architectural chimera. From its distinct sets of digital chromosomes and analogue chromosomes evolves a monstrous mix-up of various approaches that go from developing skin morphologies, structure anatomies, ornamental textures, responsive environments, biological growth, robotic behaviour, miniature devices, machined fabrication, interactive media design, sensorial feedback etc. To some this may look and sound outrageous and horrific—as it is neither elegant nor pure, nor truthful or correct (process-wise).

Why this Frankensteinian, modern Promethean approach? The grotesqueness of aRC(2)himera is only relative. aRC(2)himera must be seen in a postvirtual and postdigital context of New Materialism, which marks the ambition to escape from the old unsustainable (socially and environmentally) virtual and cyber architectural visions, and from the old off-the-shelf and unsustainable (environmentally and financially) architectural production methods towards innovative applicable theories, techniques and technologies.

Why being obsessed with digital and nature-mimicry processes if what is really necessary is breeding a chimerical environment that is partly biological, partly technological, partly romantic, partly scary? The ambition of aRC(2)himera is to mark an era of synthesis, hybridity and new potentialities. Today’s postvirtual era is less interested in the almost quasi-religious cyber myth of total liberation from physical limitations (think of the famous goggles or data gloves for example). Digitality is not the alien, the other. Plus, in a postdigital point of view, digitality is fully intertwined with analogue, mixed and biological technologies. Pure mathematical functions just will not suffice. Thus, aRC(2)himera should facilitate the overdue (and for some, accomplished) task of overcoming feelings of alienation and estrangement towards digital technologies, to re-addresses human cognition, augment realities, and develop nature 2.0.

aRC(2)himeras are constitutive occupier of such a conceptual, and material, landscape. Whether they project fear, or power, they can help in humanising the unknown. The ethymological root of monster, ‘monstrum’ means that which teaches, which is again linked to ‘monstrare’, to show; and both deriving from the same base ‘monere’, to warn. So… be warned! Architecture must inevitably respond to the current acute, actually monstrous, political, economic and ecological problems.

aRC(2)himera is part of the year-long brief entitled Form Follows Fetish. Louis Sullivan’s dictum Form Follows Function is certainly one of the most known and also misunderstood statements in architectural history. Falsely propagated as a dictate against ornamentation and in favour of functionalism, yet seemingly still in vogue.

This is an idea of Marble concept to create in a White Pink Building as a body spider.

Ngũ Hành Sơn

Marble Mountains (Vietnamese: Ngũ Hành Sơn; "Five elements mountains") is a cluster of five marble and limestone hills located in Ngu Hanh Son ward, south of Da Nang city in Vietnam. The five 'mountains' are named after the five elements; Kim (metal), Thuy (water), Moc (wood), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth).

All of the mountains have cave entrances and numerous tunnels, and it is possible to climb to the summit of one of the peaks. Several buddhist sanctuaries can also be found within the mountains, making this a famous tourist destination.

The area is famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts. Direct rock extraction from the mountains was banned recently. Materials are now being transported from quarries in Quang Nam province.

environmental Anaplasis

an Examble

Industrialization and mining are destroying China’s natural settings, especially mountains, which are excavated to the point of destruction in man’s search for minerals. These processes don’t just devistate regions’ ecologies; they also displace whole populations of people, separating them from their homes and also their means of living, as many in these rural areas work as farmers. The “Mountain Band-Aid” project seeks to simultaneously restore the displaced Hmong mountain people to their homes and work as it restores the mountain ecology of the Yunnan mountain range.

This is achieved with a two-layer construction project. The outer layer is a skyscraper that is built into and stretched across the mountain. By building the structure into, and as part of, the mountain, the skyscraper helps the Hmong people recover their original lifestyle. It is organized internally by the villagers to replicate the traditional village design they utilized before they were displaced. The building’s placement on the mountain means that its height is mainly determined by the height of the mountain. The design as a whole is one of “dual recovery:” the Hmong people living on the damaged mountain can keep the unique organization of space in their village, recreating it within the skyscraper, but they won’t be contributing to the mountain’s degradation. Instead, they help the mountain’s environmental restoration by recycling domestic water for mountain irrigation. It is this irrigation system that comprises the project’s inner layer: an irrigation system is constructed to stabilize the mountain’s soil and grow plants.

The skyscraper is constructed in the traditional Chinese Southern building style known as Chuan Dou. Small residential blocks are used as the framework: The blocks are freely organized as they were in the original village, but the framework controls this organization of blocks into different floors, acting as the contour line in traditional Hmong village.

a Visual resemblance

Manhattan being the center of the universe and all it was probably inevitable that someone would come along and do to it what sculptors have done to gods and saints and kings and queens since Greco-Roman days: render the place in a giant slab of marble.

"Giant" might actually be something of an underestimate. This thing clocks in at 2.5 tons. 2.5 tons! Your average SUV weighs less.

Even more impressive, though, is the excruciating detail that the artist, Japanese-born, L.A.-based Yutaka Sone, managed to squeeze out of the material. Take a look at the closeups above.

Sone drew on photos, Google Earth images, and even several helicopter rides to build the model to scale.

The point? Let us consult the press release:

“
Whether architectural or natural, landscapes predominate in Sone's oeuvre. The overall shape of the island can be seen to bear a subtle visual resemblance to the physical form of a snow leopard, an animal which features widely throughout the artist's works. Interested in the contrast between man-made and natural, Sone frequently refers to the reclusive mountain cat as a metaphor for both solitude and distinction. ”

to Cave Patagonia

The most spectacular caves network in the world and this Marble Cathedral  is absolutely magnificent. It’s located in Patagonia,Chile on the second largest freshwater lake in South America, General Carrera.Marble cave or cathedral is the main attraction of the lake Lago General Carrera in Chile. Another name for these interesting caves is Las Cavernas de Marmol.
This is an unusual place and is one of the most visited in Patagonia. Labyrinth of caves are located in the beautiful mountain lake on the peninsula of limestone.