0172
26-04-2009
ZONDER TITEL
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten, Mechthild Stuhlmacher, Daan Mol
Architect
To us, space is indissolubly connected to material. Proportions, atmospheres, light, temperature, texture, colour, sound and smell, in short everything that contributes to the sensual experience of a space has to do with the substance the architecture has been made of.
The character of the materials that have been used, being overtly expressive or subdued, is the starting point of our architecture and determines every space we make.
At the same time we feel that space only comes alive through time and use. Our architecture is meant to be an effective and clear framework for the natural processes that take place during its lifetime. It wants to offer opportunities for adaptation, ageing and change.
For Vedute we made an object that is meant to change. We used a material that has similar sensual qualities as the natural building materials we like to use for our projects. The object has been made of solid bee’s wax. The wax has directly been bought from a local beekeeper and has been collected by bees from Rotterdam. The material has been kept completely natural, with all its colour shades, smells and its warm and heavy feel.We cast the wax in a mould with the Vedute dimensions, 44 x 32 x 7 cm, stacking many thin layers on top of each other. The wicks inserted in the mass can be lit one by one or all at the same time. After a period of time there will be craters and little ponds around the wicks that eventually will flow into each other. The flat object gradually changes into a three dimensional, slightly unpredictable miniature landscape.
Our spatial manuscript isn’t a model nor an image or representation of something else. It is, just like architecture, to be experienced best by using it, with all the senses. Every user will leave his or her indelible traces behind. Every time the wicks are lit the object becomes thinner, less substantial and lighter, till only a thin layer of wax will be left on its bottom and edges. The object becomes one large, fluid space that has been shaped by material, time and use. By placing the wicks in a safe distance to the edges of the object the framework dictated by the Vedute dimensions remains intact.
-MS/DM
