Architecture of the Amalgam: A Spiritual Looking In and Out at the Constellation of the Polaris Craters
Abstract
The search for the spiritual in architecture is one of the most persistent topics in the history of humanity. Stonehenge was a constructed calendar that framed the solstices. The angels of cathedrals were intermediaries between above and below. Cathedrals themselves soared high as sacred constructions mimetic of the cosmos. Today, the narratives that once fueled such constructions have receded and yet the basic human need for spiritual interconnection lives on.
Drawing upon precedents as wide ranging as Robert Fludd’s analogy between plants and stars, contemporary Chaos and String Theory, or the Endless Architecture of Frederick Kiesler, this project attempts to link scientific and mythical symbols and analogies, asking: how architecture may still engage with the interconnection of the universe on many levels simultaneously? Inspired by five impact craters made from one singular meteorite 250 million years ago, modern and traditional stories that have collected around the sites are brought together to explore the idea of the Universe as a single unit, where everything is connected in an endless sequence of change. Like Galactic structures, the Observatories across these sites involve integrating and disintegrating relationships with every other part of these creations, where empty fields of tension hold the parts together like planets in a void.