As a starting point for the design Aristofanes’ myth on love, and thus the creation of mankind, was used as the text behind a process of automatic writing, in several forms. It is described by the ancient playwright that the evolution of humans into their current form is entirely intertwined with their need for love. In short, our ancestors used to be a lot different from us, in that they looked like consisting of two bodies each, having far superior physical abilities. Their arrogance triggered the Gods’ wrath, who in response shread them all in two in an effort to disarm them. So from then on, all of the halves are in constant search of their one and only perfect match. And it is from this separation that the sexes were created, since initially there were three different ones - one where both parts were male, one where both parts were female and one consisting of both sexes. The part of the myth that was finally used for the initial “automatic writing” concept is the relationship between the two singularly complementing halves. Such a relationship could be read in the violent proccess of creation of a fault, so the construction is hooked on, or maybe generated by, a naturally created fault.
What is most interesting is the complementing relationship between mass, surface and void, all generated by this striped structure, where we can no longer tell the context and the content apart. Whlie setting the ground rules for the structure’s behavior in space, a rationalization is needed, resulting in the use of a grid, which then is deformed. Possible deformations could concern the mass’s surface and its topography. The grid could also lead to a new reading of the mass in terms of materiality, in the parallelism to a fabric with the structure being a stitch holding two parts together but in a way also apart.
The grid is then applied on the rock, with only one of its directions being visible at first sight. However both directions are being used in the object’s and the excavation’s geometry.
The final design product consists of sumultaneous acts of addition and subtraction. The stripe structure that is added, does not leave the context untouched. It creates space inside it by removing part of the rock. Its complemetary can also be seen on the other part of the rock. This ensemble of addition and subtraction can be repeated infinitely, either on both or on one side of a fault.
What this act of excavation finally creates is a variety of spaces ranging from totally exposed to the natural environment and its conditions to more secluded, closer to the rock. The construction, serves as an observatory on the pathway by a natural marvel, offering the possibility of a different relation to the scenery: the sense of superlying above the cliff.
Even though the site that was chosen is accessible to hikers via a steep path, the area retains its awe-inspiring quality, the only thing coming to rupture that silence being a small extension of the rock, high above the ground.